Stories

Volunteering at the Hanover Street Pantry during the pandemic is quite different. While I dearly miss being able to greet and serve the families of the community, I am uplifted by the spirit of the staff and fellow volunteers at the pantry working with a new sense of urgency. Our community is faced with unprecedented need and Arm In Arm's staff and volunteers are trying to do our part by packing g...
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Brenda grabs a McCaffrey’s grocery bag and doubles it up with a second. This grocery supply she is gathering for a family will be heavy, and she doesn’t want the bag to break. She reaches out for a can of tuna, jars of peanut butter, a container of shelf-stable milk. She refills crates around her stocking station with rice, pasta, canned vegetables and fruit, and every other item she needs to fill...
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My son and I were glad to have the opportunity to pitch in by delivering groceries from the Hanover Street pantry. Arm In Arm is functioning like a well-oiled machine, and when we arrived to pick up the groceries, they were already neatly packed, two bags per location, with a list of addresses and even a map to follow. It was so easy! I was also very happy to see that the food we were delivering w...
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“One of the things I love about our Princeton community is the diversity,” said Cecilia Avila, coordinator of Arm In Arm’s Princeton pantry. “But it is hard to see some people being hurt by this crisis more than others. Our undocumented neighbors are especially hurting right now.”  While most people experiencing the pain of layoffs and furloughs resulting from COVID-19 have the opportunity to a...
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I’m used to being in the trenches. I’m used to interfacing with the clientele up close and personal. Now everything is so spread apart and so far distanced. I mainly deal with the homeless population and those that are underserved. With social distancing, I barely see anyone. Very seldom do I get a call, because most of the clientele I deal with don’t have access to telecommunications or they woul...
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It was late March, and Arm In Arm was in the midst of launching 100% mobile delivery due to the growing COVID-19 crisis. Bullet shots rang out as I drove away from our pantry. I said a silent prayer in a time when many may be questioning a higher power. I said it anyway, because I know from personal experience that bullets have no name and  those shots can be fatal. It’s been a few weeks si...
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Shariq surveys the volunteers packing bags on a Wednesday morning. He checks on their stock of each food item, hauling bulk trays of canned corn, plastic wrapped bins of peanut butter, and noisy boxes of dry pasta up from storage. He refills supplies for each volunteer, and then he reorganizes bags piled high with groceries, counting out the total of each stack. The next day, still wearing ...
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Greetings! I am grateful to be serving as the new Executive Director of Arm In Arm. As staff member Cecilia said while training me in our pantry, “It is our great blessing to be able to serve others.” Having spent 20 years collectively at Covenant House, the largest private program for homeless youth in the world, and Bonnie Brae, a residential school and treatment center in Bernards Township, ...
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