Ridgewood Drive By Food Drive is Back!

Next Ridgewood Drive By Food Drive

December 22, 2013

Leave your non-perishable food items on your doorstep starting at 8:00 AM on Sunday, December 22nd. All donations will be split between Ridgewood's Social Service  and Paterson's CUMAC/ECHO.

Please send an email to rwdriveby@gmail.com with your name and email address to get on our list.

All other inquiries may be sent to Brian Gatens at mrgatens@gmail.com

And we're back. . .

The Ridgewood Drive By Food Drive is back for 2013. On February 3rd, please join your neighbors and take part in what is perhaps the easiest food drive in the world.
Step 1 - email ONLY your address to rwdriveby@gmail.com
Step 2 - No later than 10:00 AM on February 3rd, place a bag of non-perishable (canned food, pasta, etc.)on your front stoop.
 Step 3 - We'll be by to pick up your donation and arrange for its delivery to CUMAC/Echo in Paterson.

 For general questions/comments please email Brian Gatens at mrgatens@gmail.com Thank you

January 22nd - Drive by Food Drive is Underway

Emails went out this morning to interested families. If you'd like to take part please contact me at mrgatens@gmail.com and I'll fill you in on the details.

November 6th - Thank you. . .

1) Thank you to everyone who contributed either on October 2nd or November 6th. We had 12 families in October and 58 families today.
2) Your donations are secured in my garage and CUMAC will either be sending a truck for them tomorrow or I'll take them down to Paterson on Thursday with the kids.
3) Our next food drive is December 4th and it pretty much follows the same procedure as this one. Just reply to this email with your address in the subject line and you'll be on the pick up list for the 4th. I'll be sending out a reminder email just after Thanksgiving in case anyone forgets.

To stay up to date with the Drive By please 'like' our Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ridgewood-Drive-By-Food-Drive/258585590847275

You can stop reading now, but if you want our origins read on:

I work in Norwood, NJ at the local public school and our students conducted a 'fill a backpack' drive in September to support the Paterson Schools as they were devastated by Hurricane Irene. I've done some work with CUMAC/ECHO (www.cumacecho.org) before and know them to be a very reputable and very grassroots organization. We collected around $3,000 worth of school supplies, but during the dropoff I noticed how bare the shelves were at CUMAC.

Stephanie Ames, volunteer coordinator at CUMAC, shared with me that the need has been higher than ever and that donations are at their lowest. They are responsible for feeding roughly 100 families a week for a total of 400 people. That's every week, year round. Needless to say that's a lot of food.

When I got home I was speaking with my three kids Jimmy, Meg and Jack about what I saw at CUMAC and we came up with the idea of asking our friends to leave some food out on Sunday morning and we'd be happy to run it down to Paterson. Well, we reached out to a few close friends and I set up both this email address, the Blogspot webpage and the Facebook account and that's how we got started.

Going from 12 to 58 families occurred due to word of mouth, please continue to take part and please spread the word to your friends. Quick Math - if everyone Ridgewood resident donated four cans of food each that would be 100,000 cans of food. A little bit from a lot of people really adds up when you think about it.

If you need anymore background information or anything else, please reach out to me via this email address or mrgatens@gmail.com

Thanks and have a great night.

Brian, Kathie, Jimmy, Meg and Jack Gatens
Sheffield Road, Ridgewood, NJ, USA

November 6th is set for our next food drive. All those interested should send their email address to rwdriveby@gmail.com.

Thank you to everyone who is taking part.

Sunday, October 2nd Update

Thank you to the twelve Ridgewood families who collectively donated a carload of canned food items to Cumac/Echo (www.cumacecho.com) in Paterson, NJ. The next drive will be on Sunday, November 6th. Spread the Word.

What is the Ridgewood Drive-By Food Drive?

In a sentence: Help others by leaving canned food on your front stoop this Sunday, October 2nd. More info below.

Cumac/Echo is a thirty+ year old community organization in neighboring Paterson, NJ approximately eight miles away from the center of Ridgewood. While they provide a variety of services they primarily supply food to 100 families (roughly 400-450 people) every week year round.

With the continuing economic trouble and the aftereffects of Hurricane Irene on the local residents, Cumac/Echo has seen a significant increase in their clients as well as lower donations. Here's how you can take part:

1) Send an email to rwdriveby@gmail.com. The email only needs to contain your street address.
2) On Sunday, October 2nd at 8:00 AM leave some canned food items on your front stoop. You can leave as many as you like.
3) Volunteers will drive around Ridgewood and pick up the food items and deliver them en masse to Cumac/Echo on Sunday afternoon.

You can also help by forwarding this email to all your friends and neighbors in Ridgewood. Everyone is invited to take part.

That's all. A nice and simple way to help others.

Thank you for taking part.

Specific questions can be directed to Brian Gatens, a resident of Ridgewood, at mrgatens@gmail.com.