An issue as complex and long-standing as food shortages needs a strong partnership to tackle it. Alpha Gamma Delta is the first Greek organization to partner with Table to Table, New Jersey's first and largest food rescue, in February.
Sarah Hart, a junior majoring in finance and economics and president of Alpha Gamma Delta, said the partnership first started after her mom made a Facebook post about her becoming president and sharing about the sorority’s philanthropy.
Hart said her mom’s friend, who works with Table to Table, felt the sorority’s initiatives to give back fit perfectly with their work.
Just like Table to Table, Alpha Gamma Delta’s philanthropy focuses on fighting hunger. Arianna Valte, the vice president of philanthropy and a sophomore biology major, said that there’s more to fighting hunger than just not having enough food.
“It affects your well-being, your mental health, your physical health, your emotional health,” Valte said. “I could not go to school and do all the things I’m doing without the proper nutrition and nourishment.”
Valte also discussed that the type of food they deliver is important.
“It is so important to me that Table to Table provides people with nutritious food that will fulfill them rather than quick and easy meals or microwave mac and cheese,” Valte said.
Similarly, Hart emphasized how the organization provides healthy and nutritious foods to people in need.
“Table to Table helps to orchestrate collecting leftover fresh food, not processed food, but fresh food,” Hart said. “They bring them to elderly home facilities, families in need, or homeless shelters so that these people are receiving healthy and fulfilling meals that would have gone to waste otherwise.”
Elizabeth Fleming, the vice president of administration and a junior public relations major, talked about the religious component of their collaboration with Table to Table.
“When we did one event with them, they brought [the food] to a church the next morning,” Fleming said “I personally know that a lot of the girls in AGD are Catholic or Christian and have those values so being able to see it impacting Christian or Catholic people who are facing food insecurity is very nice.”
One of the projects that Alpha Gamma Delta does as a part of their partnership with Table to Table is food rescues every Friday.
Valte said that they pick up food both from Seton Hall and Newark Academy, a private middle and high school school in Livingston, then drop it off at Jesus Saves Boarding Home, which feeds breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the residents in the group home for the week.
Alpha Delta Gamma has also helped reduce food insecurity in Orange, New Jersey by hosting sandwich-making events.
“We’ve done sandwich-making events where a Table to Table representative has come in and she oversaw all of our chapter making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Fleming said. “We ended up making 523, which was really nice, and they got delivered.”
Hart shared that Alpha Gamma Delta enjoys doing friendly competitions during the sandwich-making events to see who can make the most sandwiches and who can pick up the most food.
“If you come to this service with a fun and open heart, it makes it so much more fun,” Hart said.
Hart said that Alpha Gamma Delta hopes to continue its partnership with Table to Table in the future.
“It’s a great way to engage in the community and also show what our philanthropy truly means to us,” said Molly Quigley-Sanborn, a biology and psychology major and director of community services.
Fleming said the best part of collaborating with Table to Table has been the number of opportunities they’ve had to make a difference in people’s lives.
“It’s not often that you partner with someone where you can work with them so often and make a difference so often,” Fleming said.
Delianie Cerda is a writer for The Setonian’s Campus Life section. She can be reached at delianie.cerda@student.shu.edu.
