Updated: South Orange Food Pantry is Empty, Rent Party Makes an Offer

Our Lady of Sorrows food pantry may not have anything to distribute on Saturday.  Chris Dickson, speaking for Rent Party has stepped in: he announced on Thurday that donations made here, or at www.rentpartylive.com, will be matched

Normally, the busy food pantry distributes bags of groceries and household supplies such as toilet paper. A line of recipients often reached out of the church and along the walkway. Now, however, the pantry's shelves are bare.

On Thursday, a sign on the door read, "Please Donate. The pantry is empty -- please help us restock the shelves. Thank you."

Each week about 100 families are provided with food; volunteers spend the previous week packing brown paper grocery bags with cereal, a roll of paper towels or toilet paper, macaroni and cheese, pasta sauce, pasta, soup, canned vegetables, tuna, spam, peanut butter and jelly, and rice. Each family receives a bag and usually some extra items, as well.

"We like to give personal items such as toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant," explains volunteer Mary G.

OLS parishioners are regular contributors to the Food Pantry, but they also receive contributions of food and money from community groups including the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Elks, the CYO basketball teams, the Kiwanis of Maplewood, and the OLS Youth group. In addition, the monthly Rent Party funds both the OLS and St. Joseph's food pantries.

Locals are welcome to drop off donations of food or money at Our Lady of Sorrows,  217 Prospect St., So. Orange, NJ 07079. To drop off food conveniently, park in the lot and enter the Fourth Street door of the church (near a statue of Mary). Once inside, turn left. The pantry is ahead of you.

Non-perishable foods are best. Volunteers say that warehouse-sized cans and boxes are not as useful as smaller sizes. In addition, cans that do NOT require a can opener are best.