Farmers' feed-the-needy effort survives setback BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer EAST BRUNSWICK - A local farm may be able to give food to New Jersey's poor after all. Recent state cutbacks threatened to end a program whereby farms throughout the state give 1.5 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to 6,000 needy New Jerseyans each year. The program, New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger, was dependant on $100,000 from the state's $4 million hungerrelief allocation to pay for various costs associated with doling out the food, according to Jim Giamarese, owner of Giamarese Farms on Fresh Ponds Road, which contributes to the effort. But after deliveries were stopped for a week earlier this month when funds dried up, the state Department of Agriculture answered the call from organizers and decided to allocate the necessary funding. The problem now, Giamarese said, is that a number of groups will now be vying for funding, and his guess is that 10-year-old New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger will wind up with just $50,000 to $70,000. "The money is being made available on a competitive basis," Giamarese said. "Chances are that we will receive something." In the meantime, the group is hoping it can raise enough through private donations to keep things going until the state money comes in, Giamarese said. Funds have run dry, and it will likely be late January or early February before the state money comes in. Giamarese said the group is hoping private money will help "bridge" the gap until the state funding arrives. The program's budget is about $120,000 annually. "We'll get some grants to help keep it going," Giamarese said, with money likely coming from private groups such as philanthropic organizations. In addition, New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger raises funds, in part through a walkathon, he said. Giamarese said the group tried to keep deliveries going, even though the state money did not arrive as expected. In the spring, the state had informed the group that the $100,000 would be allocated, organizers said. But as the year went on, the farmers realized the money wasn't coming. Giamarese said the group took funds out of the New Jersey Agricultural Society's budget to ensure that the food operation continued. Giamarese is president of the nonprofit agricultural society, which runs the farmers' hunger relief program. Farmers Against Hunger has two truck drivers as well as a program coordinator, Giamarese said. There are a variety of costs involved, including fuel. Giamarese said he was glad that money will be made available, but he is concerned that Farmers Against Hunger will have to compete against other nonprofits in the future. The group has had to severely cut back its food program because the state has not yet produced the promised money, he said. To volunteer time picking vegetables and fruit in farmers' fields, or to contribute funds, gas, boxes, bags, gloves or surplus produce, visit the Web site at www.state.nj.us/agriculture/ agsociety or call the agricultural society at (609) 462-9691.