Forklifts hum through the Food Bank of South Jersey’s busy Pennsauken warehouse, weaving between towers of food bound for families across the region. Each week, truckloads supply hundreds of pantries, schools, and meal programs – a lifeline that’s grown ever more vital.
When Fred Wasiak took the helm in 2018, the organization was feeding about 47,000 people a month, a number that spiked to 95,000 during Covid. Now, more than 185,000 people rely on the Food Bank each month. The Food Bank’s mission goes beyond food distribution, offering classes in a new teaching kitchen to help families turn what they receive into healthy, sustaining meals.
“The reasons for hunger haven’t changed,” said Wasiak, who will retire in December after 35 years in nonprofit leadership. “It’s the circumstances that have. Inflation, outrageous food prices, gas prices – and all the interrelated things: rent, education, affordable childcare, affordable healthcare. It really puts stress on individuals who are just barely making ends meet.”
“Every person who walks through our doors is here for a reason. If we take care of each other, we’ll be able to take care of our neighbors.”
Q: How has the need changed over time at the Food Bank?
We helped reduce the stigma of shame.
There were more people who were food insecure prior to the pandemic who just suffered and didn’t come out of the woodwork. During Covid, we showed people compassion, we were welcoming, we had empathy and we rose to the occasion. Word spread and more people came forward who had been struggling quietly for years, and that’s a good thing.
Q: What does it take to sustain that level of help today?
It really puts a strain on nonprofits to stay sustainable. Every pantry we work with is its own 501(c)(3) organization, and all of them have to raise their own funds to keep serving their community. We’re just there to do the heavy lifting for them.
Before the pandemic, we received much more government food – about 60 percent of what we distributed came from federal programs. Now it’s closer to 25 or 30 percent, but the number of people we’re feeding has doubled.
That means we have to purchase more food, raise more money, find more volunteers – all while keeping the doors open. Our budget has grown from $6 million in 2019 to about $25 million today, and our staff has nearly doubled. We rely on roughly 8,000 volunteers a year, and we’ll need even more, more hands on boxes.
It’s becoming unsustainable to continue to feed at these levels, and that’s the challenge in front of all of us.
Q: What happens behind the scenes to get food to people in need?
People don’t come to the Food Bank itself to pick up food. That’s one of the biggest misconceptions. We’re really a distribution hub for more than 300 community partners – local pantries, churches, schools and other organizations across 4 counties, 58 communities.
All the food comes into our Pennsauken warehouse, including donated food, government food and food we purchase ourselves. From there, our partners can go online, place an order and schedule a pickup. It’s like shopping online. They choose what their community needs most, whether that’s fresh produce, protein or dairy, and we get it ready for them.
We also deliver to pantries that don’t have the capacity to pick up large amounts of food. Every neighborhood is different, so we listen closely to our partners about what the people in their community need. The goal is to make sure every family has access to healthy, culturally appropriate food close to home.
The past few years have transformed how nonprofits operate. What’s different now – and what lasting lessons came from that?
The pandemic proved that hunger is real in America. It also forced all nonprofits to look hard at how they serve their communities. Some had to shut down. Others pivoted their mission overnight to meet the need in their neighborhoods.
At the Food Bank, it made us better – more efficient, more collaborative, more prepared for crisis. So even though the pressures are greater now – funding, inflation, demand – we’re stronger organizations because of what we learned. We had to be.
Q: What have you learned after 35 years of leadership about keeping people motivated through hard times?
You want to remind people of their purpose – why they’re here. In nonprofits, you can’t fight the calling. People come because they care deeply, and my job is to make sure they don’t lose that spark.
You have to listen and be present. When you’re mindfully present, you don’t just hear what someone says. You hear what they’re not telling you. You can see it in their eyes or the way they carry themselves. That’s when you step in and help them take a breath, talk it out, take care of themselves.
There’s a lot of burnout right now because the need is so great. Every person who walks through our doors is here for a reason. If we take care of each other, we’ll be able to take care of our neighbors.
Q: What gives you hope for the future of this work?
What gives me hope is how partners come together. Government, nonprofits, local leaders – everyone is realizing we can’t compete. We have to complement each other. The only way to reach this level of need is by working together, and I’ve seen incredible cooperation across the state.
I call the challenge before us ‘Covid 2.0 – without the federal help.’ Still, we’ve been through crisis before, and we’ve learned how to work smarter, not just harder. The need is great, but so is the compassion in this community. That’s what keeps me hopeful.
