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Author: Mike Scheideman

Saddle Brook, NJ, December 18, 2023 – The Board of Directors for Table to Table, New Jersey’s first food rescue organization, welcomes nonprofit veteran Heather Thompson as its new Executive Director. In this role, Heather will oversee all aspects of the organization, including strategic planning; development; supporter and partner engagement; revenue and grant management; operations; and community and government relations.

“We are excited to have Heather onboard as she brings to Table to Table more than two decades of experience of building community support to drive social change,” says Greg Mueller, Chairman of the Board, Table to Table. “She will be a tremendous asset and will be pivotal in amplifying our mission of providing fresh, healthy food to those in need,” Mueller concludes.

For nearly 25 years, Heather has worked for various not-for-profit organizations in New York and New Jersey to create growth strategies, build meaningful relationships with partners, donors, and volunteers, and support the needs of those under-represented within the community.

“The impact Table to Table has made in Northern New Jersey is nothing short of extraordinary,” says Heather Thompson, Executive Director, Table to Table. “I am incredibly excited about my new post and the opportunity to continue the growth of this important organization. At a time when more and more of our neighbors face food insecurity, and there is a growing focus on ending food waste in our country, the mission and work of Table to Table has never been more vital,” concludes Thompson.

Before signing on to Table to Table, Heather served as Chief Development Officer for Norwescap, a comprehensive anti-poverty nonprofit that reaches more than 30,000 people each year in Morris, Sussex, Hunterdon, Warren, and Somerset Counties. There she oversaw a wide array of programs that help people address both immediate and long-term needs, so they can move away from poverty and towards a more thriving future.

Prior to Norwescap, Heather’s career has included roles at Eva’s Village (Paterson), Park Avenue Armory (NYC), and Citymeals-on-Wheels (NYC). She has also provided pro-bono consulting support to multiple nonprofits in New York and New Jersey. Heather serves as President of the Board of Trustees for the Bloomfield Public Library and chairs the Nonprofit Roundtable for the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. She is a resident of Bloomfield, NJ, where she lives with her husband and son.

To help Table to Table in its mission to address food insecurity in Northern New Jersey, Donate Now! For more information on Table to Table, visit us at www.tabletotable.org.

About Table to Table

Table to Table is New Jersey’s first food rescue organization. Committed to feeding our hungry neighbors in Northern NJ, Table to Table rescues and delivers healthy, fresh, and perishable food from grocery stores, food distributors and restaurants, and in doing so, nourishes the community while helping our environment. In partnership with hundreds of recipient organizations like food pantries, senior centers, and school programs–along with its powerful network of volunteers–Table to Table supports health and wellness for all. Since its inception in 1999, Table to Table has rescued and delivered the equivalent of more than 288 million meals and saved nearly 98,000 tons of potentially wasted food from landfills. And, through our Table to Table I-Rescue app—powered by Food Rescue Hero—we have expanded our distribution footprint to include donations that serve smaller donors and recipient organizations. Independently funded through grants and donations, Table to Table is proud of its Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating for 13 consecutive years. Learn more by visiting https://tabletotable.org/

Press Contact: Maria Sinopoli, Director of Marketing Communications: msinopoli@tabletotable.org

Saddle Brook, NJ, December 18, 2023 – The Board of Directors for Table to Table, New Jersey’s first food rescue organization, welcomes nonprofit veteran Heather Thompson as its new Executive Director. In this role, Heather will oversee all aspects of the organization, including strategic planning; development;supporter and partner engagement; revenue and grant management; operations; and community and government relations.

“We are excited to have Heather onboard as she brings to Table to Table more than two decades of experience of building community support to drive social change,” says Greg Mueller, Chairman of the Board, Table to Table. “She will be a tremendous asset and will be pivotal in amplifying our mission of providing fresh, healthy food to those in need,” Mueller concludes.

For nearly 25 years, Heather has worked for various not-for-profit organizations in New York and New Jersey to create growth strategies, build meaningful relationships with partners, donors, and volunteers, and support the needs of those under-represented within the community. 

“The impact Table to Table has made in Northern New Jersey is nothing short of extraordinary,” says Heather Thompson, Executive Director, Table to Table. “I am incredibly excited about my new post and the opportunity to continue the growth of this important organization. At a time when more and more of our neighbors face food insecurity, and there is a growing focus on ending food waste in our country, the mission and work of Table to Table has never been more vital,” concludes Thompson.

Before signing on to Table to Table, Heather served as Chief Development Officer for Norwescap, a comprehensive anti-poverty nonprofit that reaches more than 30,000 people each year in Morris, Sussex, Hunterdon, Warren, and Somerset Counties. There she oversaw a wide array of programs that help people address both immediate and long-term needs, so they can move away from poverty and towards a more thriving future. 

Prior to Norwescap, Heather’s career included roles at Eva’s Village (Paterson), Park Avenue Armory (NYC), and Citymeals-on-Wheels (NYC). She has also provided pro bono consulting support to multiple nonprofits in New York and New Jersey. Heather serves as President of the Board of Trustees for the Bloomfield Public Library and chairs the Nonprofit Roundtable for the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. She is a resident of Bloomfield, NJ, where she lives with her husband and son.

To help Table to Table in its mission to address food insecurity in Northern New Jersey, Donate Now! For more information on Table to Table, visit us at www.tabletotable.org

“We give food packages to 200-300 folks per week.  What I see changing with the addition of the Table to Table food is the experience that our people have in line.  In the beginning, they were strangers next to strangers.  As time has passed, relationships are forming.  A community is starting to form.  They are helping each other.  They carry food to each other cars, they are asking about family members and sharing stories.  The are creating a new community; moving from proximity to intimacy.  That is powerful. As people come for food, they have found so much more than that.  The cold weather has brought them into the warm church, where we give them food that heals them physically and spiritually.  You are Table to Table, we are people to people.  Thank you from the new community here at Clear Way Baptist.”

 “It’s a struggle.  I’ve been raising my kids for the past three and a half years by myself.  My husband passed away and this is the biggest help that anyone can get.  I know it’s hard to make that money stretch and we see a lot of working poor.  You know, rents are so high in Paterson, so it’s either you have to pay your rent and pay your bills or, pay your rent and feed your children.”

-Maritza

“Table to Table themselves have been such a collaborative, I can’t even begin to explain.  It’s been a friend.  And, let me tell you, it’s been a resource.

When I say a resource, I can tell you that some of these elderly people –

I said to one of them (she’s 97,) I said ‘Mother, why are you laughing’  She said ‘I’ve never, ever had a porterhouse steak!’

If Table to Table wasn’t here, I couldn’t make it.  The survival rate of this pantry would go down tremendously and when I say that, you can’t get the frozen meats and especially, the quality of the frozen meats.  You can’t get the holistic dinners with mashed potatoes, beef and sting beans – you can’t get that.  You can’t get the cooked chickens.

When a parent or family gets burned out (like the house right next door that got burned out) they needed food, but something they could microwave.  You couldn’t get any of that at the food bank, but you could get it from Table to Table.”

-ANONYMOUS

“Small children like my son are a little picky about what they eat, and when he sees what his father and I are eating he wants what we eat.  So if I can get my hands on fresh fruit, fresh produce, things like that you know, even the canned fruits and stuff, I can have that and then he gets it.  I don’t have to go and get (and I can’t afford) those little jars of baby food and it’s so much better to give him fresh food.  So it means a lot to me to have that, and give him stuff that’s fresh.

Right now I am in school, I am not working.  I am looking for work and you know, trying to get an education, so this helps us with the finances being what they are.  This helps us get by, with me in school and the amount of benefits you get, you know, and rent has doubled.  I moved away from this area and came back and rent has tripled in some cases.  If I didn’t have the food pantry and had to take money away, I would be facing eviction – that’s the difference between paying my electric bill and buying food.  We need both.

But if I didn’t have these kinds of places around, I don’t know what I would do.  We are on our own.  I don’t have brothers and sisters, I am an only child.  A lot of people say “lean to your family”.  Places like this are what a big family would be doing.  Both my parents work.  They struggle themselves.  So if I didn’t have these places I would be up the creek!

I am thankful for it.  For me, I was just being a Mommy and facing the problem and now that he is old enough, he can go to Day Care.  And with other assistance that is available I am attending college now, so I am back in school, learning how to cook food like this.  Gotta do it though, you know? I mean for my little guy.  So without doing that, I’d have to work at a Burger King and that wouldn’t pay the right kind of money, so I am trying to get a better education and get a better job.  So hopefully, one day, I won’t need places like this.

But for now, I do.”

-Kara

When Table to Table was first contacted by the Evangelical Pentacostal Church in Union City, they did not have a food pantry. Karla, a part time employee of the church was using her own money to feed the teens that were coming to an evening program at the church. Karla reached out to Table to Table because her own funds were running low and she was no longer able to feed the hungry teens.

Now, with Table to Table delivering perishable food to the church each week, they have found that by adding a food pantry they are not only providing dinner for the teens and food for their parishioners, but they are feeding a large amount of community members that are not part of their congregation and are stepping foot into church for the first time. The pantry has expanded their mission in ways they never expected and for that they are very thankful.

For 23 years, Paterson Police Athletic League (PAL) has been taking children off of the streets of Paterson and teaching them, no, guiding them, to a better life. Agostino Feola has been at the helm since the very beginning. Agostino, or Augie as he is called, is a teacher and a mentor to not only the students but the volunteers who were once students themselves.

Boys and girls, ages 9 to 17, complete a rigorous 10-week training program where they learn all about law enforcement. The program’s model is that of a military academy where students are given the opportunity to meet representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. They work with local law officials including police, swat, firemen, county sheriffs and detectives. Their behavior and performance is supervised both at school and at home. They are expected to act with respect in all aspects of their lives.

Table to Table has been delivering food to PAL each week for the past several years. We deliver fruit and vegetables, some prepared food, meat and desserts. Parent volunteers use the food to prepare weekly dinners and weekend lunches in the small kitchen on premise. When we visited one Saturday, the kids were enjoying a lunch of empanadas, handmade with beef we had delivered that week.

The Paterson Police Athletic League is a model to be duplicated; helping children find their way off the streets to succeed not only in school but beyond. We are impressed and gratified by their achievements and are thrilled to be able to partner with them – making a difference in young lives by way of consistent, nutritious meals.

© 2024 TableToTable - All rights reserved. Table to Table is a 501(c)(3) organization, Tax ID 22-3646125

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