Smiles of the Week 5.15
Tell us about the good deeds in your community. Email: comm.engage@strausnews.com
Newton /
| 11 May 2020 | 03:56
Samaritan Inn donated 250 boxes of fresh food to Sussex County residents in need though a collaboration with multiple local businesses and families.
The health care team at St. Joseph's hospital thanks the West Milford Women's Club. (
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Three generations of Village Pizza: Jon-Paul, Jon-Paul Jr. and Sal Brancato. (
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It takes a village
Since the end of April, Village Pizza in Goshen, N.Y., has been on a “random acts of kindness” streak, delivering a free surprise lunch to a local business and dinner to a local family every day.
Some of the local businesses they’ve supported include: Goshen Post Office, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus’ office and its security team, Goshen Pediatrics, CVS, Goshen Sunoco and Goshen Village Police.
The third-generation, family-owned pizzeria has been giving back to the community since the COVID-19 shutdown started, allowing those in need to eat now and pay later.
Village Pizza is open for curbside and delivery.
Boxing up hope
Newton, N.J., nonprofit, the Samaritan Inn, teamed up with local businesses to put together 250 boxes of food for residents in need.
More than $12,000 was raised to purchase fresh food for these boxes. Local businesses, families and individuals teamed up with Samaritan Inn to contribute funds and/or materials to the effort, including but not limited to: ShopRite, Weis Markets, Thermo King, Sutherland Packaging, Thorlabs, Wiebel Family Foundation, Joe Maggio Concrete, Ray Erins of Weichert Realtors, Youssef Abdelhalim of AnnieMac Home Mortgage, Westwind Manor, TNT HVAC, RS Phillips Steeland the Rooney family.
“The main preface was to make sure we provide fresh food. This was fresh eggs, fresh chicken, fresh meat, fresh carrots,” said Westwind Manor owner Todd Tavares, who helped organize this effort as a member of the Samaritan Inn’s board of directors. “It worked out really well.”
To ensure the limited number of 250 emergency boxes were given to those who need them most, brochures, which worked as vouchers, were distributed to Project Self Sufficiency and local food pantries, which were then given to families and individuals in need. Additional boxes were given to local senior housing facilities in Sussex County.
Thoroughly screened volunteers — who wore masks and gloves, had their temperatures taken, and were known to have been self-quarantined for over two weeks — assembled and distributed the boxes at the Littell Center in Franklin Borough.
Boxes were distributed from 9 a.m. until they ran out at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 11. Cars started lining up as early as 7:30 in the morning for boxes, which included five pounds of chicken, ground beef, eggs, carrots, milk, orange juice, bread and numerous pantry staples such as pasta, pasta sauce, canned tuna, oatmeal, cereal, peanut butter, jelly, pancake mix and rice.
Giving thanks
After receiving a donation of more than 50 scrub caps and masks, RN Frances Paulison, a clinical education specialist for critical care at St. Joseph’s Hospital, sent the following message of thanks in to the newspaper:
“St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson would like to thank Mrs. Cynthia Murphy and the West Milford Women’s Club for the beautiful masks and scrub hats. Their love and support is so greatly appreciated.”