From Guest to Volunteer
Life was “heavy-hearted” for Anna as she was making plans to move to a new apartment, working part time, and feeling like she was in a rut. Being that she needed a large amount of funds for her new place, she found herself making the hard choice between putting money aside or buying food. For the first time ever, she decided to reach out to local food pantries for help.
“It was a big eye-opener to be on the receiving end after being on the giving end for most of my life”, Anna explained. “It was hard making the calls; it took several attempts to get myself to pick up the phone and do it”. She reasoned that there were families in worse conditions than her and that she should just settle with what little she had on hand.
The South Jersey Dream Center was the only organization that returned her call. Anna said, “I was surprised when they left a message and asked me to call back”. What drew her to the SJDC was, “What I read on the website, that they’ve been around for a while, that they have a great reputation, and they’re doing great things in the community”.
It was around her birthday when she visited the Dream Center for food in December, 2022. She was so thankful for the food she received to help her through a challenging time. “Everyone was so nice, they even acknowledged my birthday. I was treated with dignity and genuine kindness. Soon after, I decided that it was time for me to get out of my rut.”
Anna moved to her new place in West Deptford, within walking distance of the Dream Center, and reached out to volunteer. “There are lots of needs out there, but I wanted to find the right need. I wanted to find my niche”. Anna worked in retail for over 15 years and is a seamstress, so being a Sorting Volunteer at the SJDC and working with baby clothing is a perfect fit for her.
“As I fold the tiny clothes, I realize what I am doing is so important. I don’t know what the backstory is for the person who will be receiving the clothing and what’s happening in their life, but I do know that I am touching lives in a special way. I’ve also met such nice people at the SJDC and look forward to serving every week.”
We are so blessed to have Anna as a volunteer, she’s so faithful and such a woman of excellence. She entered our doors as a guest to receive food for a temporary time and is now serving our guests…she’s back on the “giving end”.
GRRReat Cereal Drive!
What an amazing example Principal Morrell is to the students of the West Deptford Middle School. He challenged the kids and their parents to donate over 1,000 boxes of cereal to the South Jersey Dream Center and they did it! The grand prize was to pour a gallon of milk over his head for the grade that donated the most boxes! We were present for this special occasion!!! It was GRRReat!
Zallie Customers Give Big
Just over 1,000 pounds of food was donated by the generous customers of the Zallie ShopRite in West Deptford this past March. It was cold outside but our hearts were warmed by the overwhelming generosity of the shoppers who gave big throughout the day. The Zallie Community Foundation has been a terrific friend and blessing to the Dream Center for many years in many ways. Special thanks to Store Manager, Mike Ross, who rallied shoppers on our behalf to help us meet our goal.
Pickleball Against Poverty Tournament
YOU helped us raise over $30,000 through our Fourth Annual Pickleball Against Poverty Tournament in March at Players Courtyard Pickleball Club! We are so thankful to our sponsors, volunteers, players, spectators and committee members for helping to make this our best tournament so far. Together, we are helping struggling families in our region with food, clothing, baby supplies, personal hygiene items, and small household items. Thank you!!!
Bundles of Joy
We celebrated Mother's Day in a very special way again this year, with the help of some of our favorite fans. Big shout out to The Bank of Princeton (top left), Nemours Children's Health (bottom left), and Heritage's Dairy Stores (bottom right) for hosting Diaper Drives and donating nearly 2,000 diapers to help the moms and dads we serve. What a bundle of joy!
NEWS
REAL Men Volunteer
With the help of these awesome men, we put together 12 sets of shelving for our toddler clothing and shoes. Thanks to them, we we were able to organize our boxes by gender, size and season. Now we can fill the requests we receive for clothing A LOT faster.
Kendra Scott Gives Back
The Cherry Hill Mall Kendra Scott store featured the Dream Center for a "Give Back" event in April, AND donated a portion of their sales to our mission. It was such a pleasure meeting their dedicated staff!
Shoe Rescue
The Township of Harrison Environmental Commission was so kind to bless the Dream Center with toddler shoes from their Shoe Drive. We were happy to partner with them to help recycle lightly used shoes and reduce waste in our local community.
United Way Food Drive
It is always an honor to be a recipient of the Annual United Way of Gloucester County Food Drive. We were blessed with hundreds of pounds of groceries to pass along to our guests. We are so thankful to all the businesses that participated and donated such an abundance of food.
That's a Wrap
Rosie's Farm Market in Mullica Hill filmed a pre-season commercial then donated all the fresh produce to local food pantries. What a bonus it was to provide our guests with watermelon and other Summertime favorites in early Spring!
Our Partners and Friends
We are so thankful for the ladies from the Hispanic Family Center in Woodbury who volunteered their time this month to help us sort our children's shoes. We love being their partner in serving local families.
Macy's "Bags" Hunger
March was Macy's "Bag Hunger" month! We were once again the recipients of all donations made at the checkout register when customers were asked to "round up" their purchase. Not only were the customers very generous, Macy's matched every donation dollar for dollar. WHAT a tremendous and creative way to BAG HUNGER!
Coles Gets the Job Done
We were so blessed to have a tremendous group of students from the Coles Alternative High School in Cherry Hill join us for a huge moving project. They worked hard in helping us clear out the contents of one of our rooms to make way for storing donated office equipment. They were courteous, focused and ready and willing to help with an awesome attitude. They got the job done in record time.
Do You Love Our Mission?
Want to help us break the cycle of poverty in South Jersey? We would certainly appreciate your vote. It's super easy and only takes about a minute. Enter our name for the Non-Profit category (#21), then click "Next". Go HERE to vote today. Thank you!
