​Urgent NEEDS During Corona Virus
​​Face masks. Cleaning Supplies. Personal care products. Food. Funds. And volunteers, too.

These are the things the food pantries throughout Mercer County are seeking. Can you help?
During the corona virus, we may be in the same rough sea, but we are not all in the same boat. Some of us can actually appreciate the time at home during the corona virus quarantine. We have the financial means, jobs that can be done from home, good health. Our children have access to the IT they need for school, a backyard, and plenty of books and toys.
              

But others are not so fortunate. They lost jobs. They had little saved up. They live in dense housing with playgrounds for kids shut down. They may be essential workers who still struggle to make ends meet. They may have a loved one who is ill.
                  WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. We are in the same sea. What can we do to help one another?
La Convivencia is connecting those with needs to people who can do something about those needs.

Here are ways you can be involved:

1) MAKE CLOTH FACE MASKS:
​     Food pantries want to hand out reusable face masks to their recipients. Currently for the La Convivencia project, 1,600 adult masks and 500 children sized masks are needed. La Convivencia has teamed up with the Mercer Mask Project (MMP). If you can help make masks, go directly to: Mercer Mask Project. MMP continues to need more help with sewing. 
This wonderful group of volunteers obtains fabric (in volume), supplies for making masks, launders fabric before it is sewn. They give out sewing kits (10 face masks in each kit) for SEW-ERS who want to sew. They need VOLUNTEER HELP to put together the sewing kits. They need VOLUNTEER HELP to compile the sewn masks into bags which are then given out to organizations who have requested them. MMP has given over 13,000 masks to healthcare providers, non-profit providers and schools. This group is totally volunteer but they need funds for supplies—and will accept donated supplies. If you can donate, see: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mercer-mask-project
 
2) CLEANING SUPPLIES AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS:
     As you know, cleaning supplies have become hard to find. Because of this, some food pantries cannot even accept food from the public. If you have or can obtain bleach, Lysol, alcohol, hand sanitizer, please contact La Convivencia’s Volunteer Facilitator to connect you with a pantry that needs this. The same goes for personal care products. Some pantries offer for men, women and their children: shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes, bar soap, laundry soap, and feminine hygiene products. We have drop off sites and can connect you to one.
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at 177 Princeton-Hightstown Road in Princeton Junction is one of the sites with plastic bins to collect what you wish to drop off.
 
3) GIVE FOOD:
    Some food pantries need food. However, their needs vary from week to week. Almost all food pantries will accept a bag of shelf-stable food with the following items:
Box of breakfast cereal | Cans of meat (tuna/chicken), fruit, vegetables, soup | Pasta, rice, beans (bags and cans) | Sauce to put on pasta | Large carton of shelf stable milk | Large juice

      Another option is to have your group run a drive for just one item. For example, collect 500 boxes of cereal and then let us know. Remember, no food should have a passed expiration date on it.
      As noted with cleaning supplies and personal care products, if you hold a food drive, let us know and we will connect you with a place to drop the food.
 
4) GIVE FUNDS :
Attached is a list of organizations giving out food throughout Mercer County. (The Trenton Health Team at www.trentonhealthteam.org keeps this list up to date.) You can go directly to a website if you want to make a monetary donation or send a check in the mail. The money is used to pay for gas to pick up and deliver food, to buy food and cleaning supplies, and for other purposes that support their work. Note that Mercer Street Friends Food Bank provides food to about 55 sites. Thus, to support the “Grab and Go” sites for children, contact Mercer Street Friends.

5) VOLUNTEER :
​If you want to help a food pantry (and many pantries especially need persons strong enough to move boxes and heavy bags of food), La Convivencia is helping connect volunteers with pantries. If you want to help La Convivencia with this project or other projects, we need help, too. Please let us know what you want to do by emailing the Volunteer Facilitator.

INFORM LA CONVIVENCIA If you know of an urgent need, please let us know. We will help connect people to people. Please email: Volunteer Facilitator   

BE A HELPING PARTNER:
If you are an organization that wants to be a “Helping Partner”, please email our Volunteer Facilitator.
Helping Partners:
1) Help collect food, face masks and products;
2) may be a drop off site;
3) will continue to be informed of other community needs and La Convivencia events as they arise;
4) can receive training from and publicity through La Convivencia. 
                                       Thank you for working together to create a diverse, peaceful world.