Founded in 1980, Meeting Essential Needs with Dignity (MEND) is a hunger relief network based in Essex County, NJ. Our mission is to strengthen the health of our community by increasing access to fresh and healthy food. We envision a community in which everyone has access to nutritious food and the ability to achieve their optimal health.
MEND continually seeks feedback from pantry leaders and community partners, prioritizes the needs of patrons, and focuses on sourcing high quality, culturally relevant, fresh and healthy food, with the intent to transform hunger relief from the traditional “emergency food” model to one that is focused on dignity and respect.
Beyond Food
In 2024, MEND launched the Food & Health Equity Coalition of Essex County. This Coalition will identify and address the greatest barriers to food and health equity across Essex County, and will share existing assets and resources for greater collaborative and collective impact in addressing the root causes of hunger.
Pantry Partnerships
MEND regularly convenes leaders from over 20 food pantries in Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, Maplewood, Montclair, Newark, Orange, South Orange, and West Orange, NJ. Working in partnership, we source supplemental fresh and healthy food, connect resources, and raise funds to increase the pantries’ capacity.
MEND Member Pantry List
MEND on the Move
Launched in 2022 as a year-round program, mobile markets and home deliveries are designed collaboratively with over 30 community partners, enabling MEND to reduce barriers to accessing nutritious food by bringing food directly and consistently to those who need it most.
With home deliveries made possible by Amazon in the Community, as well as free farmers’ markets hosted by MEND at select locations, this program provides over 144,000 servings of fresh and healthy food to program participants annually!
“I have a large family and MEND food and fresh vegetables and fruit fills in the gaps during pay periods. Thank you for your kindness.”
– MOTM Patron, 2023
This program is funded in part by generous support from Baillie Gifford, Community Health Connections Foundation, Healthcare Foundation of NJ, the Reitman Foundation, and Schumann Fund for NJ.
Food & Health Equity Coalition
MEND serves as the backbone organization for this newly-formed coalition is made up of over 100 members from academia, government, the non-profit and philanthropic communities, the healthcare sector, and more – all working toward the shared goal of greater collective impact when it comes to food security in Essex County.
Learn More about FHEC!