RED BANK – The Rotary Club of Red Bank’s Foundation is hosting it’s 13th annual Two Rivers Food & Wine Tasting on Monday, April 22, to benefit Lunch Break, the area’s oldest soup kitchen that began to fight hunger in their community 30 years ago.
The event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at Branches Catering, 123 Monmouth Road in West Long Branch.
During the festivities at The Two Rivers Food & Wine Tasting some of the area’s finest restaurants will offer samplings of their cuisine along with wines and other beverages from local shops.
The event fee is $65 – $40 of which is tax deductible. Tickets and/or sponsorships can be purchased through PayPal by visiting www.redbankrotary.org. Tickets may also be ordered by mail by sending a check, made payable to Red Bank Rotary Foundation, along with the name of the guests attending the event, to Red Bank Rotary Foundation, PO Box 8444, Red Bank NJ 07701.
Lunch Break, a volunteer-driven nonprofit, freely provides life’s basic necessities for community members in need, including clothing and fellowship in addition to food. What began in the basement of a local church, where 140 hot lunches were served the first week, expanded in 1985 to include distribution of groceries to families. In 1986 Lunch Break opened the doors of its own facility and began providing much more than food. In 2012 alone more than 56,000 hot meals were served, more than 7,000 food pantry distributions went to families, and there were more than 8,000 clothing distributions, including specially outfitting job seekers for interviews.
Meals are delivered to the homebound; there is the Adopt-A-Family program during the holidays; there are several special programs just for children, such as Dinner and a Classic Movie Night for members of the Boys and Girls Club, cooking classes for children and a back to school distribution of backpacks and school supplies. An Internet café has been added to help job seekers. Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are offered and there are special monthly dinner nights for the entire community.
Last year in the wake of Super Storm Sandy, disaster relief was added to the long list of services provided by Lunch Break: working with other area nonprofits, volunteers provided food, groceries and clothing to anyone in need.
All of this is done under the direction of the Board of Trustees along with the current executive director, Gwendolyn Love, her staff and the willing hands and hearts of more than 2,000 volunteers, in addition to the generous support of the Red Bank community and surrounding communities.
To learn more about Lunch Break’s activities or to join its family of devoted volunteers, please visit www.lunchbreak.org.
