By Ryan Gallagher
Monmouth County residents woke to more than a foot of snow Jan. 29, with more falling throughout the day along the Jersey Shore. Along with the snow came days of bitter temperatures.
Before the weekend began, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office declared Code Blue conditions – temperatures at or below 25 degrees without precipitation or 32 degrees with precipitation or a wind-chill temperature zero or below for two hours or more – through Sunday. In Red Bank, this meant professionals and volunteers were making plans to feed and house those experiencing homelessness, readying an unprecedented weekend-long campaign against the cold.
Community members looking for a warm meal and refuge from the cold began to congregate Friday afternoon for the 4:30 p.m. meal at JBJ Soul Kitchen Community Restaurant on Monmouth Street.
“We call it dining with dignity. Everyone is welcome regardless of their ability to pay. We ask, ‘Can you afford to donate?’ And either way we invite them to dine,” explained Nicole Dorrity, the community coordinator at JBJ Soul Kitchen. “The suggested donation is $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner.
In addition to offering a healthy meal, Dorrity said the organization also gets to know its regulars and works to facilitate “community partnerships, advocating for mental health, housing navigation and offering services like substance abuse treatment.”
“This is a ‘hand-up’ not a ‘hand-out,’ ” she said, explaining their theory that a “great way to break barriers is over a meal.”
For those who can donate, JBJ Executive Chef Emily Yasi said, “Paying for your meal here is making a positive impact on the community.”
Friday evening at JBJ, individuals ate a warm meal in the restaurant and then received a ride to the Hope & Comfort Warming Center.
In 2018 Pilgrim Baptist Church and JBJ Soul Kitchen launched the warming center, the first in Monmouth County, to provide men experiencing homelessness shelter, hot showers and a place to wash their clothing. “The warming center holds 20 men but had to be reduced during COVID to 12 beds,” said Dorrity. A new addition means there is now enough socially distanced room for 14.
From Wednesday to Saturday, JBJ acts as the check-in area and dining hall for the program. For Code Blue events occurring between Sunday and Tuesday, individuals may check in directly to the church. According to the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, there are places in the county that assist women and children as well.
As expected with the impending blizzard conditions, Rev. Terrence Porter, pastor at Pilgrim Baptist Church, said the warming center was full Friday evening into Saturday.
“For the most part, the feedback has been positive. We have created an atmosphere where men are given an opportunity to have a hot meal, shower, laundry services, endless amounts of coffee and a comfortable and warm environment,” Porter said. “We give the ‘hope’ that people do care about their well-being and safety.”
Everyone involved understands the importance of helping those individuals in need in their local community.
“It’s important because homelessness still exists in one of the wealthiest counties in the state,” said Porter. “Having the warming center reduces the reality that a homeless person could die in our streets from exposure to freezing temperatures.”
The program works as well as it does because of the many volunteers who assist during Code Blue events and throughout the year.
“We have an amazing team of volunteers for things like overnight security, volunteers who cook food when JBJ is closed, and those partners who come in on resource days like barbers, beauticians, mental health clinicians or healthcare professionals to provide testing,” said Dorrity. “Just today a random person came in with socks for the warming center. So that happens all the time. Hats, gloves and shoes are huge for donation.”
Whether it’s fighting food insecurity, homelessness, or even addiction, the program has volunteers to assist with it all, like Teena Lomack, a retired mental health nurse who jokes she’s busier than before retirement.
“We meet them where they’re at,” Lomack said. “Mental health issues, substance abuse, trauma… whatever the issue is, we meet them there.” She said she is “grateful” to the organizers at JBJ and Pilgrim Baptist for letting the volunteers help.
Dorrity provided a reminder of why program members and volunteers will continue their mission.
“Gov. Christie had mandated that the county needed a response to Code Blue, but there was no funding available. So, the nonprofit, the church, as well as Lunch Break and Parker Health have had a part in making this happen,” she explained. “And just recently, we received news that one of our gentlemen just got housing and a job.”
The article originally appeared in the February 3 – 9, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
