Transcript:
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Brad Caruso:
Welcome to Civic Warriors, brought to you by Withum. On this podcast, we bring the conversation to you, sharing, engaging stories that motivate and build consensus in the nonprofit community. This podcast is about the innovators, the leaders on the frontline of adversity, guiding lights in the nonprofit industry affecting change. And through their stories, we can all join forces to become civic warriors. Hey, warriors. Welcome to today’s episode of Civic Warriors, brought to you by Withum. I’m your host, Brad Caruso, leader of Withum’s, Not-for-Profit practice. So today’s guest I’m very excited about is a true civic warrior, someone who is fighting to help those most in need in her local community. Angela Krukauskas is the founder and director of No One Hungry in EHC Egg Harbor City, New Jersey at No1HungryinEHC. They believe that no one in the community should go hungry. Their mission is to provide food for the food insecure in the community so that everyone can enjoy the season with a full stomach. They also organize back-to-school and holiday drives with donated items from their community and do so much more. And so I’m really excited to have you. Welcome to the show, Angela.
Angela Krukauskas:
Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
Brad Caruso:
I wanted to start out by asking you what was the catalyst behind starting this organization
Angela Krukauskas:
In 2017? My husband got sick. He had his knees replaced and had a heart attack and they had to resuscitate him. He was in critical condition for several days with only a 5% chance of life. While I was there, my neighbors sort of took care of my home, my children, mowed my lawn and they were there for emotional support. I wanted to say thank you to my community and give back a little bit of their, their support of my family. And while we were in the hospital, I just was making deals with the man upstairs about how I could keep my husband so the pantry was born from him.
Brad Caruso:
There’s always a catalyst behind everything. And I think kind of seeing that certainly opens your eyes and says, you know, I want to keep doing something. I wanna do something more. And, uh, certainly appreciate that. So, so fast forward to today. You know, talk, talk a little bit about Pantry. Talk a little bit about the programs that you have and the work you do.
Angela Krukauskas:
So we have been here for six years. We basically have a telephone booth, size pantry in my front lawn that over the last six years has grown to feed about 2000 people a month, um, from all over Atlantic County, not just Egg Harbor City. But, um, as far as Berlin, we’ve had people come from Berlin. Um, I know we’ve taken care of families at Christmas from Tom’s River down to Cape May. We, like I said, feed 2000 a month. We also provide back to school clothing, medical equipment for those in need. Um, we do school book drives, school book bag drives Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, any holiday meals. We’re just like Johnny on the spot – we’re here for everything you need.
Brad Caruso:
Awesome. And what does the demographic look like as far as, you know, resident wise, you know, how the area that you serve, how big is it? How many people exist? 2000 a month is a lot. Like, that’s a substantial number of people.
Angela Krukauskas:
<laugh> It is. My house is always busy 24 hours a day. There’s people from, like I said, all over Atlantic County. The phone never stops ringing. I just looked up some data and in 2020, which was the beginning of Covid, there was 36,000 people in Atlantic County already on Snap benefits. And we know that grew incrementally through Covid and it just hasn’t gone back to its norm, I guess, here in Egg Harbor City about seven miles. Um, I’m not sure how many people live here, but I can tell you how many people shop here and it never, it just never ends. My porch is an ongoing operation in and of itself. The food comes and the food goes out so fast. Um, and we’re driven only by our community members. We don’t have any corporate sponsors, anything like that. We’re just the town that wants to do better for its people.
Brad Caruso:
Love it. And, and local volunteers too, right?
Angela Krukauskas:
And local volunteers. Yes, absolutely.
Brad Caruso:
And you know, when we talk about, you know, food insecurity in general, um, you know, clearly I think as a result of the pandemic, it, it increased the effect. Um, but why, from, you know, in your opinion, why do you think food insecurity itself is one of the biggest challenges faced by people? Um, and and who, who do you typically see kind of faced by that challenge?
Angela Krukauskas:
Oddly enough, we see very regular looking families. We, you know, we’ll take anybody. We don’t think that you have to be poor or you have to be homeless to be food insecure. We saw that during the pandemic. Um, people in all incomes, all stages of life just didn’t have enough money, just couldn’t work enough. Just, just needed a, a helping hand. We, we can’t support you. Totally. You know, we’ll never make your meals seven days a week, but we will definitely ease your burden.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think I, you know, one of the things that I, I notice in a lot of the organizations we serve in a lot of the conversations I have, both with food and insecurity as well as homelessness, as well as other things, you know, most of the individuals that need supplemented food or supplemented housing, I, I think it’s not who you typically would expect. It could be anybody. It could be your neighbor. It
Angela Krukauskas:
Absolutely is all of our neighbors.
Brad Caruso:
So I think that’s why it’s so important what you do and, and that you, you know, also to open your home to others. I think that that’s certainly, uh, important. Not everybody’s willing to do that. So, you know, it, it just speaks to the testament of the hard work that you’re doing and, and making that happen. As far as items you receive what are the typical foods that are donated, that, that you think work well.
Angela Krukauskas:
So mostly with the food pantry, we go through a lot of canned soups, tons of canned soups, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, oatmeal, cereal. Those are our most needed items. Uh, the holiday season is approaching, we’ll start, uh, going through turkeys and hams and, and whatever perishables we can get. But we, we deal most mostly in the non-perishable goods. So I wanted to go back, if you don’t mind, and tell you a little bit of what we’re doing. You asked me before, so in the six years, that’s how we started out this year, the last several months, I believe in June, we were donated a 4,100 square foot building right in the center of our town. So we are able to serve way more people. They’ll be able to come in shop for their own necessary goods shop, in quotes. You know, there’ll be no charge at the end, but they’re able to come in and, and utilize all of our facilities.
Angela Krukauskas:
We’ll have offices upstairs. We’ll have a three room food pantry downstairs with a large amount of storage. This was a gift from someone in our community, and it has allowed us now to take things to a new level. We have volunteers coming from all over the state, volunteer corporations coming from all over Atlantic County. They’re all working very hard. Uh, our contractors are working very hard. Everybody is coming in. So right now we’re also in need of more items than just your typical food pantry items. The holidays are coming. We do a Christmas drive. We invite the families of our local children in need to come in and shop for gifts for their children. Each child gets three gifts, three stocking stuffers, and unlimited amount of books. So we’re always happy to take any new or used children’s books. Books don’t matter if they’ve been read before, the story never changes. Uh, we will take brand new Unwrapped Christmas gifts, but right now we’re also shopping for, for items for the new building light fixtures. And anything you can think of that would need to operate a building of this square footage
Brad Caruso:
That’s exciting that you got donated a building. Right. I think it, you know, it’s great that you’re op operating out of your house, but also having a personal space for it also, also probably, you know, might attract more people. Um, you know, going to a centralized location. Yes.
Angela Krukauskas:
That’s what we’re hoping for. And then we can start taking some maybe corporate sponsorships and having loading docks and, and better storage and better facilities and, you know, we’ll just do what we can for our community. We wanna boost this community. I’ve lived here 33 years. I think it’s the best place to raise a child, to raise a family. And, um, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The ladies and I who make up this group, um, there’s six of us gray haired old women who just had a really good idea and it, it took off. And, um, we, every single one of us loves this town with our whole heart.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah, you could tell. And and I don’t think you would be doing this if you didn’t. And also, you know, you clearly care about your, you know, the residents of the town. You care about your neighbors, you care about other people. I mean, that’s phenomenal. What do you think some of the biggest challenges you come across in running, you know, a local food pantry or, or running, you know, an operation like this, obviously run by volunteers, you know, what, what are some of the biggest challenges you come across?
Angela Krukauskas:
Volunteers are not the biggest challenge. That’s the greatest thing. A lot of people line up, line up to help. The challenge is finding the money to do it, finding the money. We’ve been very, very blessed with our community. Like I said, we’ve never had a corporate donation until we got a building. Um, we’ve never had any company offer us food. Every single thing comes from our community. Every item is donated. So, uh, it’s finding the money, it’s finding the product at, at reasonable prices so that my community doesn’t go broke. Trying to support my community. Uh, that is always the biggest challenge
Brad Caruso:
Without a doubt. And have you seen any help on the government end? I know there, you know, I always see in the news right now and over, over the pandemic there is, you know, funding out there trying to get out there into the hands, you know, what kind of government funding have you seen, heard about, um, existed or have you come across or have you not has, has it not necessarily trickled down to that local level?
Angela Krukauskas:
We’re in the process of applying for some grants offered, uh, from Egg Harbor City, uh, and then, uh, the NPP organization. But that is the only funding that I found like that thus far. But we’re learning, we’re just learning how to write grants and how to research grants. So it’s, it’s new to us all.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no doubt. And, and I think, um, you know, it’s, it’s definitely important as you continue to scale up to identify sources of consistent funding and, and ability to, you know, not just have to rely upon only, only donation, but, but certainly that’s the challenge, right? I think that’s the challenge of running that is the challenge. Running a nonprofit, where does it, where do the funds come from? But, uh, that’s right. Definitely some great ideas you have there too, on, on sponsorships, on, you know, getting people to support it. And it sounds like, you know, just based on the operation you’re running, you know, a lot of people do support you. So, or a lot of people will support you. Uh, you know, if that ask occurs,
Angela Krukauskas:
Oh, the support is outrageous. The support has been amazing. All I do is ask, I say, I must be the best begger in town because <laugh>, I just ask. I ask and it shows up and it’s, it’s amazing. Uh, we started, the first thing we ever had donate, it was a nebulizer on New Year’s Eve at, I don’t know, 11 o’clock. Somebody called my phone and was like, my child’s sick. It’s New Year’s Eve, I can’t get a doctor. We need a nebulizer. And I put it on Facebook and within an hour we had a nebulizer for a sick child. And, and, and I thought, well, didn’t hurt to ask. So that’s been my motto. I just ask, the worst anybody can say to me is no, but no one ever. Very few people say, no, not no one, but very few people say no. And I think it’s because I’m willing to do the work. We’re willing to do the work that no one else wants to do. And I say it all the time, you cannot fire Cinderella. So <laugh>, I I just have to be Cinderella and get what we need. <laugh>
Brad Caruso:
Can you elaborate on where that, uh, where that came from, that you can’t un-fire Cinderella, <laugh>?
Angela Krukauskas:
Yeah. I don’t remember. It’s not my quote. I saw it on a TV or a movie or something. And I just thought, that’s the greatest thing. It’s the best way to sum it up. We’re doing work that no one else wants to do. No one else. Um, not no one else, but you know, we ask for one can, we don’t ask for large donations. Everybody has a can in the back of the cabinet, and we give them a place to drop it off. It’s easy. There’s no shame. It’s like your friend is coming over for a visit either to drop off or pick up food. And it just really, one can out of the back of your closet can make such a difference to a person in need. It. It’s just doesn’t stop. It’s just love and it, it multiplies.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. And, and that, and I think that’s, that’s the key is, is, you know, both strength in numbers as well as, you know, I I think not not making it a burden on anybody. I mean, at the end of the day, you’re right. Like, I think every, you know, every everybody has a little bit that they can give, even if it is just a can of soup and, and honestly, you know, talking about that publicly, like can of soup is enough in certain cases or, you know, if everybody comes together and does that, that that’s okay. If that’s all you can do. I mean, I think at the end of the day, if everybody gives it just, it makes the world a better place. So I think that’s a great point too.
Angela Krukauskas:
Everybody has something. That’s why we do so well when it comes to children who have requests or, or a child that wants to play a clarinet. You know, somebody somewhere has a clarinet in the back of their closet. We’ve created this following, we’re 2,500 people strong on our Facebook group, and all I have to do is say, you know, somebody somewhere, does anybody have a clarinet? And then, you know, you think, oh, okay, make my child played one in the seventh grade. Maybe it’s still there. It prompts you to clean out your closet and it gets that child what they need. And it, it just makes everybody better for it.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah and what, what I heard you say too, which I, I’d like you to elaborate on a little bit, and it seems like you, you’ve been using it effectively. So, so you mentioned using Facebook to really get these needs out there. Are there any other platforms you’re using or, or how else do you identify, you know, you both identify the need and request it, it sounds like you’re very effective at doing that. Can you elaborate a little more on how you do that?
Angela Krukauskas:
Well, all I ever knew how to do was Facebook. I’m computer inept, so I had Facebook on my phone and I thought, well, I have a lot of friends and I think my friends may have gotten sick of me, but I’ve made a lot of new ones now. Um, and we do have the Facebook site. We, we are, um, No 1 Hungry in Egg Harbor City on Facebook in EHC, uh, we also have a new website. It is www.no1hungryinehc.com. And it’s new, it’s under work. There’s some great volunteer paperwork out there. We’re happy to help you join, have, have you join our team. Um, there’s my email addresses, my telephone numbers out there for all the world to see. We’re working on all the other social medias too, but we’re, like I said, we’re just a bunch of old women who don’t know how to use Twitter. So we’re learning, we’re learning as we go
Brad Caruso:
<laugh>. So you’re using it better than me. ’cause I don’t, I don’t have any of those platforms. <laugh>.
Angela Krukauskas:
Maybe you’re smart.
Brad Caruso:
I don’t know. Yeah, yeah. One day I’ll, one day I’ll figure out the, the answer to that question. But, uh, <laugh>, um, and, and I, I guess, you know, do you post the physical address of the pantry on the website or do you wanna disclose, you know, physically where it is or how you get to it? Yeah,
Angela Krukauskas:
So physically where it is, it’s at my home. It’s on the front lawn right now at 350 Boston Avenue in Egg Harbor City. You’re more than welcome to come use it. We do have a refrigerator on the porch of my home. Um, you are more than welcome to help yourself to anything you need. But our new building hopefully will be up and running before the first of the year, hopefully by December one. And that’s gonna be at 231-33 Philadelphia Avenue in Egg Harbor City. We are directly next door to the post office, uh, right in the center of town. I could not ask for a better location. We’re gonna have parking in the rear, there’s street parking in the front, and we’ll be handicapped accessible. We’ll have everything you’ll need. We have a room full of refrigerators and plenty of shopping shelves, and we can’t wait to be open.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. That, that’s exciting. That’s exciting. Are you gonna do like a ribbon cutting or, or a, uh, a first day event when you open it?
Angela Krukauskas:
Of course, yes, of course. And we have so many community members that came out and volunteered and gave of their talents and their, their checkbooks. So we also are gonna host a large soiree that’ll invite everyone that came. We intend to, um, give plaques to all of our donors as well as have a giving tree in our facility, which will be, uh, have everybody’s names who worked in or gave, uh, towards the creation of this building.
Brad Caruso:
Awesome. And so obviously, you know, obviously that that’s, you know, a new event coming up. Um, you know, you have a lot of activity coming up with the holidays coming up, you know, what, what do you see as the next, you know, couple years and, and where you’re taking, you know, the pantry or where you’re taking this, you know, what, where do you see the, uh, the vision of, uh, what you’re gonna do next?
Angela Krukauskas:
So I think this is actually gonna calm down. Once the, the creation of the building and the building is open, it will make our lives a little less hectic of trying to live amongst all the food that’s in my living room and the Christmas toys that are in my bathroom. And, um, we’ll be able to open up more, we’ll have more community, uh, outreach. We’ll be able to have some children’s space, some outdoor garden space. We hope to get some murals painted in our yard and the neighboring yards. Um, we just wanna do our best at cleaning up Egg Harbor City and making it a little bit more community friendly.
Brad Caruso:
Love it. Love it. And I, and I figured maybe, maybe, and you shared a couple already, but I figured maybe we can, we can wrap up if you have any, any personal stories or any, any, uh, you know, I’m sure with the amount of people you’ve encountered or the amount of people you’ve helped, any, uh, any personal stories of any, any individual you’ve helped that, uh, that you’d wanna share with the audience?
Angela Krukauskas:
So, I mean, we, we’ve given a lot over the years. We were able to give a single mother a new, not a new car, but a new car to her. Um, and, and she was able to get her driver’s license and, and take all four children to the doctors for the first time. She’d never had the ability to do that. She’s since upgraded. But, uh, two weeks ago we were gifted another car. Um, so we’re working on getting that up to tiptop condition, maybe make another donation to another person in need. What is the best, however, is that when the people who first came to us in need six years ago now are back as givers, and they, they stand behind me. They donate every chance they get, um, to watch other organizations, other food pantries that, that came after us, grow right along with us, that that’s the most rewarding thing out there. And, um, the children, I got to know so many children in this town, they, they wanna come out, they wanna paint the rocks, they want to draw stick figures on the building it, and we want them to. So it’s, it’s really incredible to see the full circle of how you go from being needy to being the one that can help. It can happen to any one of us at any minute, and I I say we just get by with a little help from our friends.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah, paying it forward is definitely what fuels the nonprofit industry. And I’ve seen so many, you know, stories, as you just said, as well as other organizations that I, I work with that, um, you have individuals that received assistance along the way, and then they come back and they’re the ones providing the assistance along the way. And, uh, it, it’s, it’s great to see. And, uh, you know, I, I know I, I need to send you some sidewalk chalk then, because <laugh>, the kids love drawing the sidewalk chalk. I know. I, I have a five and seven year old, and, and they’ll be out there, they’ll be out there for days just drawing on the driveway, you know, if I let them draw on the house, they’d definitely draw on the house and Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It’s a lot, it’s a lot of fun. But, uh, yeah, certainly, you know, certainly you’re, uh, you’re, you’re doing God’s work out there helping, helping so many, um, I think it’s phenomenal what you do. I I love the stories you shared. I love that, you know, you’re, you’re really just making this happen, right? I mean, it’s putting one foot in front of the other and, uh, just making it happen. But, uh, you know, Angela, I really appreciate you being on the show and, and, you know, thank you so much for, uh, for spending your time with us today. It was awesome. Well,
Angela Krukauskas:
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Brad Caruso:
And listeners out there, uh, you know, thank you for listening. Um, you know, remember, uh, just anyone can be hungry. Anyone can face hard times. Um, you know, every opportunity that you get to help your neighbors and your community, you know, I highly encourage everyone to do that. Like Angela here, who, uh, you know, started an organization from scratch and helps thousands of people now. Um, it’s incredible. You know, many organizations, uh, especially No1Hungry in EHC, you know, operate on a volunteer basis. And, you know, they help those that need it the most just to get through their day. You know, we often take for granted, uh, having three square meals a day. Uh, you know how lucky we are to just have three square meals a day and others aren’t so lucky. Others aren’t so lucky, even have any, uh, meals in the day. So, you know, with the help of Angela and her team and the pantry she runs, and so many people in her community, you know, she’s able to feed, provide food, help people, and, and just provide that family environment, which I’m sure so many people appreciate. So, thanks so much for listening. Uh, subscribe and meet us right back here for another episode with Withum Civic Warriors, and hope you have a great day.
