Every November, we turn part of the studio into a collection point for non-perishable food. This year the drive runs November 1st through 29th at 373 Bloomfield Ave, Caldwell.
It’s a simple ask. Bring what you can, and it goes to neighbors who need it.
Why it matters
Hunger is easy to assume is someone else’s problem. The numbers say otherwise.
In New Jersey, about 1.24 million people, or 13% of residents, lived in food-insecure households in 2024, according to Feeding America’s most recent analysis. That includes nearly 330,000 children. In 2020, the rate was 7.4%. It has risen every year since.
Nationally, nearly 48 million people, or 14.4% of Americans, are food insecure by the federal definition. The USDA’s final household report found that 13.7% of U.S. households, about 18.3 million, were food insecure at some point in 2024. About 7.2 million of those households experienced very low food security, meaning people skipped meals or went hungry because there wasn’t enough money for food.
New Jersey has one of the lowest rates in the country. It is still more than one in eight of our neighbors.
What food insecurity actually looks like
It isn’t always visible. It’s a parent skipping a meal so the kids eat. It’s someone choosing between groceries and a utility bill. It’s a household that is fine in September and stretched thin by December, when costs rise and food banks see their highest demand.
That last part is why November matters. Donations made now are on shelves before the holidays.
How to take part
Drop off non-perishable items at the studio any time between November 1 and 29th. Items that tend to be most useful include canned vegetables, beans and soups, pasta, rice, peanut butter, cereal, and oatmeal. Check that everything is within its date and unopened.
You don’t need to be a member to donate.
A studio is a community
The work we do inside EMBODI is about attention: noticing the person in front of you and showing up for them. The food drive is the same idea, applied outside our walls. A can of beans is a small thing. Five hundred of them is a week of meals for a lot of families.
Bring what you can between November 1 and 29th. We’ll take it from there.
ALL DONATIONS WILL BE MADE TO THE CALDWELL FOOD PANTRY.
Figures: Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap (2024 data), reported by the New Jersey Monitor; USDA Economic Research Service, Household Food Security in the United States in 2024.