$5K Grant Awarded To Support New Wyckoff Food Pantry

WYCKOFF, NJ — A Wyckoff nonprofit was just awarded $5,000 in grant funding from a local Lutheran church to support client services and the organization's new food pantry in the township.

Families for Families, which provides food, clothing, furniture and financial assistance to families in the area, received the fall 2022 endowment from Advent Lutheran Church, according to a Facebook announcement. It received a $3,000 grant from the church in 2020 to purchase a truck to move families from shelters into permanent housing.

"It has been exciting to see Families for Families grow over the past three years from one dedicated family to a large team of volunteers," Pastor Joseph Schattauer Paillé said. "This grant will allow them to expand the services they provide to families, helping more people transition into stable housing and financial stability."

Funds are provided to organizations doing important work locally, nationally and around the world; the grant was created a few decades ago thanks to a bequest from a family to the church, Paillé said.

Every quarter, he added, a group of church members review grant applications from organizations.

In 2021, the church provided $49,500 in grant funds. So far this year, the church has made grants to numerous organizations, which include the Wyckoff Love Fund (emergency financial assistance to local families), Wyckoff's Christian Health Care Center and Hackensack's Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative (free healthcare to the county's working uninsured).

"The importance of loving our neighbors is a basic teaching of our faith tradition, and Families for Families embodies that spirit through their public work," Paillé said.