Family Promise Has Boots on the Ground

Hurricane Ida hit Englewood and the rest of Bergen County on Wednesday evening.  Thursday morning, Councilman Wayne Hamer was on the phone with Board President, Paul Shackford asking for meals.  The area north of Demarest Avenue, where Family Promise had distributed 46,000 meals at the beginning of COVID, was especially hard hit by the storm.  Family Promise responded immediately.  Paul reached out to the same Englewood restaurants that had proven so reliable in our previous meal programs.  By 1:00 pm Thursday afternoon, volunteers from Family Promise and other non-profits converged on 111 West Street and delivered 500 meals door-to-door in the affected areas.  Two families, whose apartments was deemed unlivable, were relocated immediately to a nearby hotel by Family Promise.

With funding provided by Family Promise, Bergen Family Center, the Community Chest, Age Friendly Englewood, 500 meals were provided for the next five days.  (The Sikh community of Glen Rock provided meals on Friday.)  Bergen County Commissioner, Tracy Zur, was able to accelerate the funding from the Feed the Frontlines grant to continue to provide meals until the grant cycle officially begins on September 20.

Click here to see the video showing the extent of the devastation which aired on NBC news.

Volunteers from the community came out to help their neighbors but Family Promise was there first to mobilize volunteers, organize restaurants, and provide food and housing for families who needed it.