Somerville, NJ – The 2022 class of Leadership Somerset, a community leadership program offered in the county, has launched a sustainable giving initiative for the Food Bank Network of Somerset County. The class is looking for the business community, along with fellow residents, to consider making three-year giving pledges to the Food Bank to support its continued service to the community.

The Leadership Somerset class has developed an online portal for donors to make their pledge, with all donations going directly to the Food Bank. Interested donors will be able to mark how much they want to commit during the 3-year period, and after the pledge, can make their first year donation on the Food Bank website. The Food Bank will then follow up with the donors for years two and three and all donations are tax deductible. To make your pledge, visit: https://tinyurl.com/LSGiving

With financial donations, the Food Bank is able to supply residents with healthy choices such as fresh produce, meat and dairy, along with canned foods, bakery goods and more. The Food Bank also offers a backpack program for children to take home healthy snacks over the weekend.

“While supplies and food donations are always needed, monetary donations can help fill in the gaps,” according to Josh Wolf, one of the other Somerset Leadership co-leads. “These funds could be used for fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses, that do not have a long shelf life, or the funds could go to supporting the upkeep of its facility and equipment.”

In 2021, the Food Bank served 1,300 families each month, and in 2022 they are on target to double those numbers. The rising cost of food and the decrease in donations makes it difficult to keep up with the increase in demand.

“Our goal is to support the Food Bank with a sustainable giving network,” explained Tyler Seville, one of the Leadership Somerset co-leads. “Steve Katz and the entire Network do yeoman’s work to support our most vulnerable neighbors across the County, we have seen this firsthand over the years as well as a class more recently. The least we could do is help build a network of donors the Food Bank can rely on for today as well as tomorrow.”

The mission of The Food Bank Network of Somerset County is to distribute food and provide other basic human needs to those less fortunate in our community in a manner recognizing and advancing self-worth and human dignity. Despite being one of the wealthiest counties in America, 17,000 people in Somerset County live in poverty and are food insecure. First incorporated in 1982, the Food Bank of Somerset County, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit responding to the needs of the food insecure in Somerset County, New Jersey – all donations are tax deductible. To learn more about the Food Bank of Somerset County, visit: https://www.somersetfoodbank.org/ or call 732-560-1813.

Leadership Somerset is a year‐long community leadership program, with the goal of building skills and supporting the development of emerging leaders through a series of seminars, workshops, and projects. Created in 2000 and with nearly 400 alumni, Leadership Somerset’s mission is to prepare citizens of diverse backgrounds for civic leadership through education and exploration of the issues affecting our communities and the resources available to address those issues.To learn more about the program or to apply to the next class, visit: http://www.leadershipsomerset.org