‘Made me a better person’: How Toms River one-week COVID food giveaway became permanent
TOMS RIVER – It was planned as a one-week program to help get food to residents thrown out of work by the coronavirus pandemic.
But three years later, on a raw, drizzly Friday, a group of volunteers gathered at the Presbyterian Church of Toms River — as they do every week — to give out food. Toms River’s free good giveaway has not missed a week since March 2020, and now it’s poised to become permanent, as a member pantry of food bank Fulfill.
“To me, honestly, you get a lot more out of this than you give,” said former Toms River Councilman Terrance Turnbach, who has been there from the start. “I shows me what community is all about. I think it’s the essence of what community is all about.”