Lunch Break Invites Donors To Shop With Love

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By Judy O’Gorman Alvarez
RED BANK – Lunch Break’s new campaign, “Shop with LOVE,” brings a cutting edge, whimsical feel to the ever-pressing need to stock the pantry shelves with food for clients.
The virtual food drive allows an online shopper to follow along with Gwen Love, Lunch Break’s executive director, or Tyrone Burr, chef/kitchen and pantry manager, as they – or rather their avatars – stroll through the supermarket aisles filling their carts with much-needed foods for Lunch Break shelves.
In addition to Love and Burr – familiar faces to Lunch Break clients, volunteers and supporters – Wallace Woods, maintenance assistant at Lunch Break, lends a smooth-sounding voiceover to the site.
“Your donations will provide more food than a traditional food drive, doubling or even tripling the amount of food purchased at a regular food store,” Woods tells visitors as they fill their shopping carts with fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, protein and more and proceed to checkout. “We couldn’t do what we do, without you.”
The campaign, which will be launched later this month, was the collaboration of efforts of Lunch Break staff, a graphic designer and Tech Bridge, a nonprofit that drives community impact by bringing affordable technology and business expertise to other nonprofits.”
“We wanted to look for something novel that would bring in younger kids and their parents to see the need for food and the shopping,” said Kate McMahon, director of development at Lunch Break. She points out that visitors can see the value of their dollar and how powerful it is when Lunch Break can buy products in bulk.
“This might have cost $400 retail,” she said of a shopping cart full of groceries, “but it only costs Lunch Break $110.”
Executive director Gwen Love thinks visitors may be amused at how the title “Shop with Love” is a play on her last name, but it doesn’t detract from the crucial message. “You’re actually making a donation and allowing us to go out and use our purchase power to get the items we need that are useful to the people we’re serving,” she said.
She hopes it makes it that much easier and fun for those who want to help, or for those without the time or ability to carry groceries.
Love also hopes to introduce millennials to Lunch Break and its works. “That’s a population that we’d like to bring in to volunteer or donate, and let them know what we’re doing.
“We’re trying to make it easy to bring it home to your phone or laptop,” said Love. “It’s a delightful way to give back. And you can do it 24/7.”
Lunch Break offers food, clothing and fellowship for community members in need.
Shop with Love, at LunchBreak.org/ShopWithLove, will be officially launched later this month.