The Free Meal Center of Cape May County, New Jersey

January 19 - Free Meal Center Fighting Evicton! - Watch Video

       For the latest updated news about TFMC, go to the "What's New" page or check out our Facebook page located by scrolling to the bottom of this Homepage. 

The anticipated opening date for TFMC is later in 2012 and we are currently undergoing extensive interior renovations.  As much as we appreciate your generosity, please do not leave food.  Make your food donations to one of the dozens of local food pantries.

Mission Statement

The Free Meal Center is a secular, non-profit, charitable organization, operated by five Board of Director members and a network of compassionate volunteers, and funded by donations and grants.

Our mission is to provide nutritious, free, on-site meals in Cape May County, New Jersey to anyone who walks through our doors in a manner that preserves and enhances the dignity of each individual.  Volunteers and organizations may offer information and advice concerning finances, housing, health and nutrition, and job and career needs to willful participants.

About Us

The Free Meal Center (TFMC) is a group of local business people and caring citizens filling a void in the county by offering free, nutritious meals without conditions.  We have a purchase agreement on a former restaurant at 1206 Route 9 South in Burleigh, Middle Township.  The 4,275 square-foot facility, situated on 2.36 acres, has four dining rooms, four restrooms, a large kitchen area, and parking for about 40 cars.  It’s centrally located in the county and easy to find.

TFMC took possession of the building March 15, 2010 and hopes to be open to the public around Spring, 2012.  The building has been prepared for the necessary interior renovations and the process is underway with masons, carpenters and electricians busy at work. 

TFMC is established as a secular, non-profit, charitable organization that is incorporated in the State of New Jersey.  It's the first-ever, daily soup kitchen in Cape May County.  We’ll initially offer lunch Monday through Saturday, with breakfast also on Saturdays.  Our on-site volunteers will treat our “guests” with respect and dignity.  Our meals are open to everyone and we won’t even ask their names.  We hope our donors and the curious public will stop by to have a meal and view our operation first-hand.

Beside the volunteer Board of Directors, TFMC will have three divisions of volunteers:  1.) at the site to help in the kitchen, serve food, and clean up; 2.) to make daily phone calls to restaurants and grocery stores and food pantries to get food donations and then have them picked up by a driver volunteer; and 3.) to solicit monetary donations through enjoyable fundraisers.  Each of the three divisions (Site, Food, Donations) will have a Volunteer Leader, who will in turn work under a Board of Director member.

The only paid positions at TFMC will be four cooks, who will each prepare the meals three days per week.  A government agency is paying their salaries and workmens comp, so we will not have any employee expenses.  The cooks will give the kitchen the continuity it needs to be efficient and successful.  Volunteers and those performing “community service” can assist the cooks.  We’re initially expecting about 300 folks per meal, which should eventually top out at 350 or so.  We’ll serve the meals buffet style and guests can come back for seconds and thirds as long as the food lasts.  Lunch hours are 11:30am to 1:00pm and the Saturday breakfast is 7:30 to 9:00am.  We expect to have extended hours on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, and Easter.

TFMC is attempting to fill a missing link in the county.  Cape May County has 42,000 yearround families, of which 4,000 households live under the poverty line ($22,050 for 4) and another 9,500 households have social security as their sole source of income.  The county unemployment rate is currently hovering around 13% and when added to those who have basically given up ever finding gainful employment, the jobless rate approaches 30%.

We will be serving appetizing and nutritious meals on-site.  We will always serve a hot soup and salad at lunch, plus a main entrée, vegetable, and fruit.  Beverages will be milk and juices.  We will avoid unhealthy ingredients like sugar and salt when cooking and we won’t have deep-fried foods.  Staying on track with health, the entire 2.36 acre property will be designated tobacco-free, just like most school grounds.

You Can Help!

While the recession years of 2008 and 2009 have affected all of us, those on the lower end of the economic ladder are especially hard hit.  Two years later, conditions haven't noticably improved.  This is our chance to make a big difference in their lives.  Your donations not only help us feed them, but it helps restore their faith in humankind.  

Please listen to your heart and make a generous tax deductible donation to The Free Meal Center.

We also need volunteers for all three of our Volunteer Divisions.  If you have some free time that you would like to put toward helping us out, let us know.  We will also be doing fundraisers at our site in Burleigh, such as car washes, bake sales, yard sales and such, so we’d love to have youth, civic, and senior groups, plus individuals, jump on board and help with an event.  To find out more about volunteering, call Jewell Real Estate Agency at 609-729-8505 or Douglas Jewell at 609-780-7129

Thank you from TFMC Board of Directors – Douglas Jewell, Burgess "Butch" Hamer, Joyce Jewell, Bobbie Greenwood, and Charlotte Bohan – and the many compassionate volunteers who make a difference.

We're on Facebook

We are on Facebook and that popular site is now updated at least weekly by Susan Van Rossum.  At last count, the newly created TFMC page had over 200 Friends.  You can view our Facebook page by scrolling to the bottom of this page.

Materials & Tradesmen Needed

Many of the materials we need to get the building prepared to open are being donated by The Home Depot of Cape May Court House.  Thank you.

We also need:  Kitchen equipment:  bain marie, food warmer, triple pot sink, mop sink, commercial dishwasher, grease trap, upright freezers, upright refrigerators, a meat slicer, and stainless steel tables.

Tradesmen Needed:  If you can give us a half day or a few hours, it'll get us farther along!

CMC Herald "Compass Points" Column

Will Meal Center Fly Where Hunger, Poverty Abound?

“Will it fly?”

Do you suppose the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, asked that of each other as they viewed a contraption that was anything but aerodynamic? On the contrary, did they possess such faith in their “flying machine” that they dared not allow a question to cross their minds?

According to a Web site about the brothers — www.wright-house.com/wright-brothers — “In 1878, when Orville and Wilbur were ages 7 and 11, their father brought them a toy ‘helicopter.’ It was based on an invention by French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Penaud. Made of cork, bamboo, and paper, with a rubber band to twirl its twin blades, it was a little bigger than an adult's hand.

They later said this sparked their interest in flight. During the next few years, Wilbur and Orville tried to build these themselves, but the bigger they made them the less well they flew. Somewhat discouraged, the brothers turned to kites.”

In 1892, the Wrights opened a bicycle shop. But their love of flying wasn’t really there. About that time, French aviation researcher Octave Chanute collected data and brought together young aviators to experiment with gliders on the sand dunes at the Lake Michigan shore. The Wright brothers interest in flight was renewed.

Then, in 1903, at Kitty Hawk, N.C. the first airplane flight took place. The rest is history.

What does a bit of aeronautical history have to do with Cape May County? A lot, especially when it comes to The Free Meal Center. That new endeavor intends to provide free lunches to anyone who walks through its doors, Monday through Saturday, in May at the former Country House Restaurant on Route 9 in Burleigh.

Deserted for the last few years, the center, detailed elsewhere in a story in today’s edition, could be the start of something needed by a growing population in Cape May County: Those who cannot afford to eat.

The concept of feeding the hungry is not new, here or elsewhere, but Douglas Jewell and his wife, Joyce, Realtors who have seen the insides of some poverty-stricken homes and the families who reside in them, decided it was time to do what they could in this corner of the world.

Soon, they enlisted Nicholas Nastasi, Burgess Hamer, and Kathleen Matthews to join the board.

Like the Wright brothers, The Free Meal Center isn’t much to behold now, but it has loads of potential. It boasts four dining rooms and as many bathrooms. There is a kitchen in need of much commercial equipment with a leaky roof over it, but there is a burning desire to make repairs and get this to work for local hungry folks aided by volunteers and donations of food and money.

The board is securing federal tax-free status to enable receipts for food to be issued as tax deductions for donors.
Why a place for free lunches, and breakfasts on Saturday mornings year round? Because there is a need, said Jewell. After visiting with Sister Jane’s meal center in Atlantic City, they learned that of her 800 daily lunches, about 5 percent are eaten by Cape May County residents.

Jewell researched population figures. He found, according to the Census Bureau, of 42,000 county households, some 4,000 with four persons, exist under the poverty level of $22,050 annually. There are an additional 9,600 households here existing only on Social Security income.

A good meal is just a wish for many fellow residents.

If that is not sufficient to chill one’s spirit, I don’t know what it would take to prove the real need of what this group is doing.
The secular center intends to feed anyone regardless of income, no questions asked. If anyone walks through the door, they can dine, buffet style, and walk out.

There will be no need to profess any religious creed or listen to a sermon. Grace, of course, will be optional for those who may want to thank the Lord for the provisions before them, but again, that will be totally left up to the diner.
The 2.2-acre site will be entirely tobacco free. There will be picnic tables outside for those who may want to enjoy the natural surroundings.

To make it “fly,” the group will need volunteers of all types. They want to ensure that everyone who enters the center will feel welcome. Surely, there are many people who would lend a hand to help those in need.
Thus, the potential question the Wright brothers may have asked, I pose again, “Will it fly?”

The need is evident. The core group is in place to make it happen.

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the doors will be open for the public for inspection visits to view the center as it is.
They can offer help in many ways, and it is certain, because Cape May County residents are generous folks, they will likely step up to help those who are less fortunate.

Such a venture opens the door to many, young and old, including students of culinary arts at the county Technical High School who study to culinary skills. What better way to put their learning into motion and fulfill community involvement?

There will be two paid cooks to prepare meals, according to Jewell. That’s so there will be continuity in the kitchen, and the food won’t vary. The food will be good, wholesome and plentiful, and centrally located, according to Jewell.
Will it fly? Only readers will help answer that question.

This is one venture that seems to be a winner. Those who are hungry should not be in a county of oceanfront villas and marinas filled with yachts. There should not be, but there are. Now, it’s time to do something about this awful dilemma.

More 2010 Media Appearances

February 21 - Channel 40 News feature on Sunday night after Olympic coverage.

February 23 - 98.7 The Coast radio news clip all day long.

February 24 - Front page article by Editor Al Campbell in Cape May County Herald, plus Editor's column "Compass Points" (see article above).

February 26 - Talked on Don Williams Show on WOND radio and simulcast on Channel 40.

March 3 - Front page article by Editor Nancy Rump in Cape May County Gazette

March 4 - New Jersey Monthly internet article by Jen Miller

March 5 - Atlantic City Press article by Debra Rech in all three "Region" sections

March 7 - Philadelphia Inquirer article by Jacqueline Urgo in Sunday "South Jersey" section

March 8 - Appeared on 10-minute segment of "The Morning Wake-Up with Mark and Bob" on 98.7 The Coast radio

March 8 - Feature story by Phaedra Laird on NBC 40 nightly news at 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00

April 24 - Film footage and interviews conducted by Dan Carrigan at the Saturday workday appeared on the 11pm News on NBC-40

April 28 - Article and pictures by Editor Al Campbell in Cape May County Herald newspaper about the April 24 workday

April 29 - Article and pictures by Managing Editor Christopher South in Cape May Star & Wave newspaper about April 24 workday

May 12 - Article by Kristi Funderburk in Vineland Daily Journal newspaper about Buena 8th grader Mick Knapp raising money to buy letters for the main sign along Route 9

May 13 - Front Page article by Mary Linehan in Middle Township Gazette newspaper about the May 15th workday and TFMC progress

June 8 - P.E.A.S. Magazine article

June 23 -  Picture in Cape May County Herald of The Home Depot manager Matt Peterson presenting check representing $10,000 in donations of materials to TFMC's Joyce & Douglas Jewell

August 12 - Board of Director members Burgess "Butch" Hamer and Douglas Jewell appeared on Jim MacMillan's morning show on WCMC 1230AM radio from 8am to 9am.

August 14 - Article in Press of Atlantic City newspaper by Ben Leach about that day's Outdoor Work Day, plus updated information about TFMC.

August 18 - Five color-picture spread by Middle Township Gazette photographer Jen Arthur of August 14th Outdoor Work Day.

August 18 - Picture in Bright Side newspaper of Greater Cape May Elks Lodge 2839 head Barbara Mahon presenting check for $500 to TFMC's Joyce & Douglas Jewell.

September 1 - Picture in Cape May County Herald of Cape May Association of Realtors' Carol Anderson and Jeanette DiNardo presenting check for $4,700 for red quarry floor tile to TFMC's Joyce & Douglas Jewell.

September 9 - Jim MacMillan has Douglas Jewell talking about The Free Meal Center on his morning radio show on WCMC 1230AM.

September 28 - Phaedra Laird of NBC-40 TV in Atlantic City interviews Douglas Jewell about the progress of TFMC and carpentry teacher Michael McCarthy of the CMC Special Services School about his class helping with preparing the building for renovations, for the 6 o'clock news.

September 29 - Press of Atlantic City newspaper article on poverty in South Jersey interviews Douglas Jewell on the impact in Cape May County.

November 24 - Press of Atlantic City newspaper article by Eliza Lala on Hometown section front page, with photos by Dan Martin.

November 24 - Middle Township Gazette newspaper article by Mary Linehan on current status of TFMC.

November 24 - Cape May County Herald newspaper Letter to the Editor by the Board of Directors detailing TFMC's progress and fundraising efforts.

December 1 - Cape May County Herald newspaper article by copy editor Joan Nash in the Business section titled, "What's New at The Free Meal Center?"

December 8 - Press of Atlantic City newspaper article by Elisa Lala in Hometown section titled, "Free Meal Center in Burleigh has permit, can start work on interior".

2011 Media Appearances

 

The Free Meal Center in Burleigh / Stealing from the Poor

The following editorial appeared May 6, 2011 in the Press of Atlantic City

   Douglas Jewell is a Realtor - and a dreamer.  The real estate business means the Swainton resident has seen the insides of lots of homes in rural Cape May County.  Too often, what he has seen in those homes is a shocking poverty - senior citizens subsisting on crackers and toast and, in one case, young children with lips tinged bright colors, the result of the freezer pops they were surviving on.

   According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, 10.7 percent of Cape May County residents, or 10,000 people, live below the poverty line.

   So the real estate work gave birth to the dream.  For several years now, Jewell has been working slowly but steadily to open The Free Meal Center in a 4,275-square-foot former restaurant on Route 9 in the Burleigh section of Middle Township.

   The plan is to have the center serve free, hot, healthyt meals to anyone who walks in the door.

   Healthy meals are a key part of the program - lots of fresh vegetables (there's a garden on the premises being tended by students from Cape May County Technical High School), no fried foods, little sugar.  Two paid chefs will prepare the food; volunteers will serve it.  Lunch will be served Mondays to Saturdays 11:30am to 1pm, plus breakfast on Saturdays from 7:30 to 9am.

   Why breakfast on Saturdays?

   Because Jewell knows that far too often, the last healthy meal many children get is a school lunch on Fridays.  Then it's freezer pops, or their equivalent, for the weekend.  So there will be Saturday breakfast at The Free Meal Center, then Saturday lunch, and anyone who wants to stay for both can spend the time in an activity room Jewell is putting in the back of the facility.

   Dozens of contractors, companies, organizations and individual volunteers have chipped in to make this dream happen.  But right now, there is one major setback holding back the planned summer opening.

   Eight times, The Free Meal Center has been hit by thieves.  Yes, thieves - stealing from a soup kitchen.  "This is the opposite of Robin Hood.  They're stealing from the poor," Jewell said.

   A 1,500 pound commercial refrigerator that was being stored outside the building during renovations was stolen.  A donated stove-hood vent was stolen.  And most recently, a brand-new 24-foot handicapped ramp donated by a Stone Harbor woman was stolen.  Police believe the materials are being cut up and sold as scrap metal.

   The irony of it all is that if these thieves would just let The Free Meal Center open, Jewell no doubt would be glad to feed them.

   But he's nicer than we are.  If you ask us, there's a special place in hell reserved for anyone who would steal from such a worthwhile endeavor.

More 2011 Media Appearances

April 7 - Middle Township Gazette article by Mary Linehan about the upcoming Outdoor Work Day, plus an update about the ongoing rehabilitation of the building and grounds.

April 28 - Film footage and interviews by NBC-40 TV's Dan Carrigan on the scene of the robbery of TFMC's 24-foot aluminum handicap ramp.

April 29 - Press of Atlantic City newspaper article by Michael Miller about the pilfering of our handicap ramp.

April 29 - Film footage and interview by WPVI ABC Channel 6 in Philadelphia's Nora Muchanic about stealing the handicap ramp and other metals from TFMC.

May 5 - Article by Middle Township Gazette editor Bill Barlow about the theft and how TFMC is progressing.

May 6 - Press of Atlantic City editorial (see above)

May 12 - NBC-40 film footage on the evening news of Keller William Realty's work day at TFMC.

May 18 - Article by Elisa Lala in the Hometown section of the Press of Atlantic City about the "Give Where You Live" work day by Keller Williams Realty where a dozen agents gave their day to working on clearing roots and debris from the picnic grove.

May 18 - Article by Martin DeAngelis in the Life section of the Press of Atlantic City about the upcoming wine and dinner benefit at the Hawk Haven Vineyards of Kenna and Todd Wuerker.  Proceeds go to the Free Meal Center.

May 31 - NBC-40 film footage on the evening news of the ceremonial laying of the first block at TFMC by Middle Township Mayor Susan Atkinson DeLanzo and committeemen Nate Doughty and Dan Lockwood.

June 1 - Press of Atlantic City front page newspaper article by Rich Degener about the ceremonial laying of the first block for the rehabilitated kitchen.

June 2 - Middle/Dennis Township Gazette newspaper article by Alex Davis titled "Big hopes for future meal center" about TFMC's plans.

October 17 - NBC-40 film footage with Phaedra Laird updating progress on TFMC.

October 28 - An update on TFMC in the weekly "Catching Up" column by Caitlin Dineen in the Press of Atlantic City.

November 16 - Front page article in the Cape May County Herald by Jack Fichter, plus a 4 minute 44 second video tour of TFMC on their website.

November 24 - Article by Alex Davis in the Middle Township Gazette newspaper summarizing progress on TFMC.

December 1 - Article in Hometown section of the Press of Atlantic City by Elisa Lala about what's new at TFMC.

 

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