Food Bank Fab Five Feeding NJ

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 1 of the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast. I am so excited to be back interviewing the changemakers, inspirers, and those disrupting the status quo. 

This week I am excited to introduce the fantastic fab five food bank CEO's of New Jersey. These individuals, Fred Wasiak, Elizabeth McCarthy, Bernie Flynn, Triada Stampas, and Mark Valli are working together to feed New Jersey through each of their amazing organizations. Each of these incredible changemakers have found themselves working in public service, whether they knew from the start that they wished to pursue the nonprofit path or found it along the way, they have all come together with a common goal: to help the people of New Jersey. 

Fred Wasiak is the CEO and president of the Food Bank of South Jersey, serving 4 counties from urban, to suburban, to rural. Founded in 1985, the Food Bank of South Jersey focuses on health, nutrition, education, and awareness. Fred emphasizes that “the root cause is not hunger, it is poverty” when discussing ways to address the problem of food insecurity at its source. 

Elizabeth McCarthy, president and CEO of Community Food Bank of New Jersey shares a common goal as her recent focus has been job training programs to help people get on their feet. CFBNJ started with a woman named Kathleen DiChiara handing out meals out of her station wagon and now 49 years later they provide 90 million meals annually. Elizabeth describes her perspective as “food is medicine”, aiming to get heart healthy meals to those in need. 

Bernie Flynn is the full-time volunteer CEO of Mercer Street Friends, providing food bank services since 1958, focusing on family and education in Mercer County. He highlights the food banks’ partnership with the state as “providing tremendous support” throughout their public service endeavors. 

Triada Stampas is the CEO and president of Fulfill, a food bank serving Monmouth and Ocean Counties which sends 14 million meals to a network of 300 people. Fulfill began as a food bank 40 years ago and has now included toy and clothing drives as well to address larger issues within the population. Triada firmly believes, “it is a blessing to get help when you need it and it is a blessing to give help when others need it, that’s something that binds us as humans”. 

Mark Valli is the CEO of Norwescap, serving over 30,000 low-income families in the northwest corner of New Jersey. Founded in 1965, Norwescap started as a community action organization and has grown its role to include a food bank. He describes his work as, “a system to help government and private resources get channeled to people who need them”.  

By forming a coalition and meeting regularly to collaborate, these five food bankers of New Jersey have formed a strong group within the state to ensure impactful, judgment free, lasting aid to those in need. It is as Fred says, “when five food bankers of New Jersey get together, good things happen”.  

If you would like to help this cause, we encourage you to take advantage of the abundant volunteer opportunities provided by their organizations or make a monetary donation to help them to continue to serve nutritious food. You can also visit their websites, foodbanksj.org, cfbnj.org, mercerstreetfriends.org, fulfillnj.org, and norwescap.org to learn more about their work. 

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Have a great week everyone!