Drive-Through Farmer’s Market Provides Fresh Food While Maintaining Social Distancing

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter.

Interfaith Food Pantry partners with GAF to help over 500 families.

Low-income families and individuals, as well as seniors on fixed incomes, continue to struggle to find access to healthy foods and fresh produce. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this problem has only become more complex.

The Interfaith Food Pantry (IFP), a leading provider of supplemental and emergency food for Morris County, New Jersey, has witnessed firsthand the economic side effects of the coronavirus that has caused widespread hunger across the United States. Since the onset of COVID-19, the number of new families requesting food assistance from IFP has increased by 300 percent.

This year, IFP has already distributed more than 500,000 pounds of food to over 8,000 families, and those numbers are rapidly increasing. In 2019, IFP distributed over 1.2 million pounds of food and served over 33,000 people.

Because of social distancing requirements and a desire to keep everyone safe, food distribution has become even more challenging for IFP and similar organizations. They have had to find creative ways to continue providing food to families and people in need.

One of those creative ideas was a drive-through farmers market, which GAF began helping orchestrate on June 12, 2020. GAF saw the need for healthy food and fresh produce rise in their community and partnered with IFP to transform their world headquarters into a free drive-through farmer’s market.

GAF is North America’s largest roofing manufacturer and has an ongoing commitment to strengthening the communities where it operates. With more than 3,700 employees and working in over 25 communities in the U.S., GAF “protects what matters most” through both their products and their community work. GAF provides resources and employee assistance to local leaders and non-profit organizations to ensure they’re sticking true to their three key social impact priorities: creating disaster resiliency, helping neighbors and building community.

On the day of the drive through, volunteers and GAF employees placed groceries and fresh produce into Interfaith Food Pantry’s clients’ trunks. They were successful in maintaining safe social distancing throughout the day, and are continuing to host these events every other Friday throughout the summer – serving more than 500 families and households in Morris Country to date.

“To be able to bring all this fresh produce out to them is critical,” said IFP Executive Director Carolyn Lake to CBS2 New York, who reported on the effort. Carolyn worked alongside Jeff Terry, VP and Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability head at GAF.

Jeff, who volunteered alongside about 40 other GAF colleagues, felt proud to lend a hand to IFP saying, “Partnering with Interfaith Food Pantry has really provided us an opportunity to come out and give something back.”

Do you know of someone in the industry who is ‘doing good deeds’ in their community? Help us catch them at it. Send news and information to info@rooferscoffeeshop.com.