09/18/2026
What a lovely night! On Thursday, 9/17, the Highland Park Community Food Pantry and HP Gives A Hoot jointly hosted the 2026 Ida Kushner Volunteer of the Year reception!
This year's Food Pantry Volunteer of the Year is Carlie Andrews, who oversees the procurement of the food pantry's inventory. Whether it is ensuring accurate counts of items on our shelves, coordinating deliveries from our partner organizations, or going to the grocery store herself to pick up needed items, Carlie works tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that our pantry can meet the needs of our neighbors.
We also honored Janice Ballou, a longtime volunteer and leader within our organization. Janice is retiring from a leadership role, and we were proud to announce that a donation of nearly $1,900 was made in her name to our pantry.
We had a fantastic guest speaker - Jess Arends is the Program Manager for Growing Healthy Pantries at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. Jess took time out of her busy schedule to join us and share her insights and warm words of encouragement.
Thanks to all who came last night to make it such a terrific event!