Kindness is all around us, and all throughout our community, individuals and organizations work tirelessly to lend a helping hand to those in need. After all, when our friends and neighbors thrive, we all thrive. To help uplift members of our community, JPMorgan Chase and Mercer Street friends have teamed up to help the hungry all throughout the Capital City.

On May 10, volunteers from JPMorgan Chase in New Jersey joined forces with Mercer Street Friends, a nonprofit organization that provides food for those who are food insecure, to pack over 1,000 individual grocery bags for students and families in need throughout Trenton. The JPMorgan Chase team also assisted with opening the cartons of food, breaking up boxes and packing/loading them into large cartons for distribution.

For families struggling with food insecurity, knowing where your next meal will come from is not as simple as a trip to the grocery store. In communities like Trenton where food insecurity is a pressing matter for many residents, events such as these provide meaningful relief to a family in need. Food insecurity in our community is further exacerbated by Trenton’s designation as a food desert, meaning that many of our community’s residents do not have access to traditional grocery stores, fresh produce, etc., instead having to venture into other communities to acquire these goods. If unaddressed, families suffering through food insecurity may experience poorer health outcomes, impacts on a child’s education, and more. This is why food distributions are not just an act of kindness, but a truly life-saving endeavor.

Mercer Street Friends Food Bank responds to the needs of the community to build alliances that will have the most meaningful impact in addressing issues of poverty. They provide a range of integrated services that build community, nurture self-worth and independence, and offer resources for children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and its lasting effects.

The Mercer Street Friends Food Bank channels 6 million pounds of food and groceries annually to a network of over 100 local food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, meal sites, schools, senior and disabled programs, and low-income housing sites. This food distribution and hunger prevention programs reach over 60,000 people who face the pain and indignity of hunger. If you would like to read more about Mercer Street Friends and support their life-changing work, you can get connected by visiting their website here: Home – Mercer Street Friends.

With dozens of bags of food in-hand, JPMorgan Chase and Mercer Street Friends took to the streets to change lives and get resources in the hands of those who truly need them. Cheers to this fantastic team, and we cannot wait to see how they change lives next!

The post JPMorgan Chase and Mercer Street Friends Team Up to Fight Hunger first appeared on TrentonDaily.