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Our Objective is to improve the lives of children and break the cycle of poverty by providing classroom supplies, new clothing and nutritious, kid-friendly food.
We currently run four programs aimed at fulfilling this mission: Tools 4 Schools, Kids Closet, Kids Cafe, & BackPack Program. Read on to learn more about our programs, check out our Kids Division Hall of Fame, and to contact us!
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Our Kids Closet program provides new clothing, free of charge, to children in need throughout New Jersey. Partner agencies of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey may request clothing twice a year for children they serve. Dedicated volunteers and staff members assemble clothing packages of three to five new outfits (and a new winter coat with winter items during colder months) for each child in need.
KC Clothing Request Form 2009
Every item distributed through the Kids Closet is donated. While much of our stock comes from clothing manufacturers, clothing retailers and our sponsors, many individuals and community groups also donate or hold new clothing drives. Donated funds are also happily accepted and greatly appreciated.
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| Kids Closet Most Needed Items List: |
- New children’s clothing between sizes 4T and 14 (both boys and girls—especially current season)
- New children’s coats/jackets
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Click here to donate for the Kids Closet
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| Donor Spotlight |
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Recent donations from Babies R Us, Roca Wear, and Gymboree will allow us to outfit hundreds of low-income children as they go back to school. Their continued support and that of many individuals and manufacturers is essential to our success. We are pleased to partner with Kids In Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) and their donors.
Kudos to Office Max for their weekly donations and invaluable volunteer support. We are also indebted to Staples and Office Depot for their recent contributions of school supplies.
Teachers shopping at Tools 4 Schools will have the opportunity to choose some high-tech teaching tools for their students thanks to the thoughtfulness and generosity of Wayside Technology Group. Company President, Simon Nynens selected over $50,000 worth of software and exciting new teaching tools to meet the needs of the underserved schools enrolled in our program. Thank you!
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Most Valuable Volunteers
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Kids Closet volunteers are the heart and soul of our program. Employees from L'Oreal, Polo, FedEx, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Cintas are just some of the groups who have stepped up to provide invaluable volunteer support in recent months.
Individual volunteers Herb Oesterle and Mary Stewart generously devote time to the Kids Division week after week.
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| Grateful Recipients |
| During the 2008-2009 school year, Tools 4 Schools distributed 2,802 backpacks, 7,003 notebooks, 9,675 packs of pencils, 2,310 boxes of crayons, and over 44,875 books, free of charge, to teachers in 172 schools. In addition, Kids Closet distributed over 7,000 packages of new clothing and over 1,500 new winter coats to children throughout the state. Finally, our BackPack Program provided 26,292 packages of food to over 1,000 children each week for children at risk of weekend hunger in Newark, Elizabeth, Irvington, Plainfield, and Perth Amboy, NJ. We couldn’t have done it without the dedication of our hard working volunteers and generous donors!
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Our Tools 4 Schools program provides free classroom supplies through our Tools 4 Schools Resource Center, our free classroom supply store for teachers. Teachers from participating schools may shop for free twice each school year for supplies. We are currently serving over 170 schools and educational programs in Newark, Elizabeth, Irvington, Paterson, Plainfield, Jersey City, & East Orange.
 The Resource Center is stocked by staff members and hard-working volunteers, and all of our supplies are donated. While many of our items come from supply manufacturers, supply retailers and our sponsors, many individuals and community groups also donate items or hold supply drives. Donated funds are also happily accepted and greatly appreciated - click here to donate to Tools 4 Schools.
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Most Needed Items:
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Pencils Notebooks Backpacks Bike Helmets
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| ATTENTION LIAISONS! RSVP for one of our 30 minute orientation meetings: 8/26/09, 9/17/09, 9/26/09, 10/07/09
ATTENTION TEACHERS! Shopping begins on August 24!
If your school or program is enrolled and you would like to request a shopping appointment, use our online Appointment Request Form! APPOINTMENT REQUESTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED BY TELEPHONE.
2009-2010 Enrollment Packet
Click The Cart To Request An Appointment
Attention NJ schools located in Newark, Elizabeth, Irvington, Paterson, Plainfield, Jersey City, and East Orange you may be eligible to receive a donation of school supplies from Tools 4 Schools!
Print out our enrollment packet for the 09-10 school year and show your Principal. The packet includes eligibility requirements, program information, instructions, and all required documents.
 Tools 4 Schools is proud to offer another benefit to the teachers we serve. Thanks to the hard work and generosity of of the volunteer program Good Goes Around, teachers may now aply to win a refurbished bike for one of their students. Many thanks to founder Adam Henick and High Gear Ciclery for their successful efforts to get bikes to children who might otherwise be without. Teachers may simply complete an application when they come to shop at Tools 4 Schools.Not sure if your school/program is enrolled? Contact us at kids@njfoodbank.org
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 Our BackPack Program provides backpacks full of supplemental nutritious, kid-friendly food to children who are “food insecure” over the weekend. When a child is “food insecure,” he or she is at great risk of going hungry. To combat this problem, food packages are picked up weekly by participating schools where staff members distribute them in backpacks, which are also donated by our program. The children may keep these backpacks for personal use. During the 2008-2009 school year, we served over 1,000 students per week in 18 schools located in Newark, Elizabeth, Irvington, Plainfield, & New Brunswick. Overall, we provided 26,292 packages of weekend food to children in need.
Specific BackPack Program items are either donated or are purchased at heavily discounted rates. Click here to donate!
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Sponsorship opportunities are also available:
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- Sponsor 1 child for 1 month: $17.40
- Sponsor 1 child for 1 school year: $174.00
- Sponsor 1 entire school for 1 month: $870
- Sponsor 1 entire school for 1 school year: $8,700
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