Children of five families from the River Plaza section of Middletown have been using their summer vacation to grow, and collect from neighbors, produce that they donate weekly to Red Bank’s Lunch Break.
Dubbing their effort “Fresh Start,” the members of the Brett, Carson, Passo, Pipercic and Grissom families have delivered more than 270 pounds of fresh produce to the 33-year-old free kitchen. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Fresh produce is available for the taking at the Red Bank soup kitchen. (Photo by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
In addition to serving hot meals and opening its food pantry six days a week, Red Bank’s Lunch Break is offering fresh produce for the taking every Tuesday in July and August for the second consecutive year.
Volunteers Martha Young, Betsy Wattley, and Susan Haugenes oversaw a table laden with donated corn, lettuce, nectarines, kale, potatoes, and other fruits and veggies Tuesday morning.
“It varies week to week, but we get a lot from the Red Bank Farmers’ Market,” said Haugenes, a Lunch Break board member. “We also get produce from our garden here at Lunch Break, the Shrewsbury Community Garden, and individual local gardeners.”
In addition to its customary slate of hot meals, clothing, social services referrals and job counseling, Red Bank’s Lunch Break is now distributing fresh produce and flowers grown by local gardeners.
The free Gardeners’ Market is open from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. every Tuesday through September. Growers who wish to contribute are asked to drop off their produce on Monday afternoons or early Tuesday morning at Lunch Break’s home, on Drs. James Parker Boulevard. For more information, call 732-747-8577. (Click to enlarge)
Vendors of apples, fresh bread and other goodies packed up their movable feast at the Galleria and took it across the Navesink to Chris’ Landing in Middletown three weeks ago. (Click to enlarge)
When the clock ran out on the annual fresh-everything extravaganza known as the Red Bank Farmers’ Market three weeks ago, some of the vendors wondered why it had to end.
The market traditionally runs from Mother’s Day to mid-November in the parking lot of at the Galleria Red Bank shopping center. But there’s still a cornucopia of vegetables, fruits, baked goods and crafts to sell.
“We said, as this comes to an end, there will be no place for us to go,” said Laura Dardi of Red Bank, an employee of E.R. & Son Farm, a Colts Neck grower of certified organic produce. “To be cut off two weeks before Thanksgiving is at the worst possible time.”