This Hunger Action Month, TASK is recognizing a major new milestone: more than 7 million meals served since 1982.

While the occasion marks a significant achievement for the soup kitchen, it’s also a bittersweet moment, reflecting a surge in hunger across our area that has been building for years.

Today, organizations like Feeding America are reporting that every single county in the  United States is home to a growing number of food-insecure households. In New Jersey, food insecurity rates rose by 22 percent to nearly 1 million people, including unsettlingly high numbers of seniors and families with children.

In Mercer County, nearly 11,000 children face hunger daily.

That’s almost 50 percent more than the previous year. In nearby Bucks County, where TASK also serves meals, the numbers are even higher. Some 11,960 children are food insecure — a 75 percent increase over the previous year.

Homelessness is also at historic highs across America. In Mercer County, there has been a 34 percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness.

“A lack of affordable housing, stagnant wages and rising costs are all contributing to a growing need for hunger relief at an alarming rate, even for working families,” says TASK CEO Joyce Campbell.

If you have volunteered on-site at Escher Street recently, you have seen the crowds firsthand. TASK has worked diligently to ensure that everyone who comes to us has an opportunity to relax in our dining room and enjoy a delicious, nutritious meal.

With the help of 40 partner sites, TASK is serving more than 10,000 nourishing meals each week – the most ever in the soup kitchen’s history.

Our output has never been higher, and we need your help to do more!

New community meal sites are waiting to come online. Existing sites are requesting more meals – by the hundreds. Lines at Escher Street are forming hours before meal service begins.

Together, we are making a difference!

TASK plans to increase meal service by 30 percent in 2024, with the goal of reaching 13,000 meals per week by year-end. TASK must raise $500,000 to staff a second kitchen shift, purchase additional kitchen equipment and make upgrades to our facility to accommodate our meal service expansion.

This Hunger Action Month, we hope you will donate now to support TASK’s fight to end hunger locally by doing what we do best: serving one meal at a time, no questions asked!