In 1981, Marguerite Chandler, a Somerset County Resident and owner of the industrial park now known as MiddleBrook Crossroads, travels to Calcutta (now Kolkata) as an international hunger organization representative. On meeting Mother Teresa in Calcutta, she tells Marguerite that she didn’t have to come to Calcutta to find hunger and said “look for hunger and you will find it in your own community”.
May 6, 1982, The Food Bank Network of Somerset County was incorporated by Marguerite Chandler with the help of friends Pam Allister and Joan Halpern (who designed the logo). Karen LeMunyon was employed as the first paid Executive Director of the Food Bank. Marguerite Chandler served as President and key contributor until 1987 after which she withdrew from management of the organization. Food distribution was from the Somerville home of one of Marguerite’s beneficiaries, a 78-year-old widow named Ann Ortman.
In 1983, Marie Scannell, the Director of the North Plainfield Welfare Department left her role and volunteered to establish a branch of the Food Bank in Bound Brook. Marie goes on to move from volunteer to Executive Director of the Food Bank.
By 1986, The Food Bank Network expanded from just one facility in Somerville to a total of 4 including in North Plainfield, Bound Brook, South Bound Brook, and Manville.
In 1987, after Karen LeMunyon left the Food Bank, Marie Scannell moved from being a volunteer to become Executive Director of the Food Bank. Simultaneously the Food Bank obtained space for food storage in the industrial park owned and managed by Marguerite.
February 16, 2021, The Food Bank moves to a new, larger, and better equipped location at 7E Easy St, Bound Brook, NJ 08805.
Hired our new Executive Director, Steve Katz. Steve is a retired Army Colonel and also spent many years with USAID doing overseas disaster response and humanitarian assistance.