BRICK – The Ocean County Vocational Technical School’s Brick Center was buzzing with activity during the week before Thanksgiving, where students worked tirelessly to provide a holiday meal for those in need.
There were 182 culinary students who prepared over 3,500 Thanksgiving dinners for “Feed the Need,” an initiative that began more than 25 years ago.
“Feed the Need started with us just providing 25 meals to a local church,” Culinary 1 instructor Chef Gary Lesniak said. “Every year it seemed to build. The program back then just relied on donations; people dropping of turkeys, etc.”
The program now partners up with Fulfill, who provided over 400 turkeys this year, as well as RWJ Barnabas Community Medical Center, who supply the grocery products for the side dishes. OCVTS then provides the packaging and containers needed for distributing these meals.
So, what’s on the menu? Corn bread, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato soufflé, gravy, and of course turkey.
This year, culinary students worked with over 3,000 lbs. of turkeys, 1,500 lbs. of potatoes, 1,200 lbs. of sweet potatoes, 850 lbs. of stuffing, 450 lbs. of green beans, and 90 gallons of gravy.
“First, we have to let the turkeys sit for about five days to a week to thaw out,” Lesniak said. “The turkeys have to be broken down. Afterwards, the carcass and bones get roasted and prepared for stock to make gravy. That’s the first section and most of that is done by the Culinary 2 students. The other classes participate in preparing mashed potatoes, sweet potato soufflé, and green bean casserole.”
The meals are then packaged and distributed to various local social service agencies such as Preferred Behavioral Health, Department of Child Protection and Permanency (DCCP), Inspire NJ, and numerous local churches and school districts. Additionally, meals were provided to the Ocean County Sheriff’s dispatch team who will be working on Thanksgiving this year.
Lesniak noted that the need for meals have increased greatly over the years in Ocean County.
“It’s increased steadily since we started. We thought we were hitting a milestone when we provided 1,000 meals, which was maybe 10 to 15 years ago. Then the next thing you know we’re up to 2,000. Last year we were close to 4,000 meals,” Lesniak said. “This year is actually less than last year. I’m not saying that the need is really any less, we just don’t have the distribution. Part of that I think is everything from the pandemic, to the cost of food. A lot of these organizations are also struggling. So, we lost some of our distribution.”
Feed the Need is the biggest meal preparation by the culinary arts students, many of whom plan to work in the food industry or further their culinary education after they graduate. Lesniak explained how they’re always encouraging students take part in community service projects and to give back to their community.
“There’s no other high school, college, culinary school that I know of that provides that number of meals to their local communities. As far as I know we’re the only one that makes such a big effort and try to reach as many people of we possibly can,” he said. “We also emphasize [to students] that we’re only scratching the surface on the hunger problem, even right here in Ocean County. But at least we’re trying to provide some holiday cheer for people who may not otherwise have a turkey dinner.”
