Livingston Philanthropies Inc. (LPI) has issued an emergency appeal this week. Founder and director Jeff Friedman said, “We are reaching out for immediate help. The pandemic is causing massive and increasing homelessness, extreme poverty and deadly despair just minutes away from Livingston.”
Long food lines have popped up all over Newark, he said. “Parents living below the poverty line find themselves waiting, each day, to feed their families adequate or sometimes Spartan meals. Then, it’s on to the next food pantry for yet another queue.”
Through Livingston Philanthropies, which is now in its tenth season of operation in town, Livingston residents can reach out immediately to help.
“Here’s how to help right now,” Friedman said. “You can send a tax-deductible contribution to LPI, P.O. Box 247, Livingston, NJ 07039 or go to paypal.me/lpinj to empower LPI to purchase food, toiletries, diapers, coats, gloves, scarves, hats, masks and more.
“You can partner with LPI’s ‘Personal Shopping for the Homeless’ initiative, which has expanded to include a ‘Personal Shipping to the Homeless’ option. It’s fun to take advantage of online sales. Just today, a gentleman shipped new sale coats to my Livingston home, I purchased new sale coats with donated funds, and a local religious organization is conducting a new coat drive/from the cleaners drive on behalf of LPI.”
He continued, “The hopelessly poor are experiencing a triple red-light emergency during the pandemic, which is hammering the already well-hammered population. Therefore, Livingston Philanthropies is asking civic, religious, corporate and educational entities to run ‘New and From-The-Cleaners’ coats and winter accessories initiatives/drives. As LPI is not accepting used items at this time, making an impact is all about ‘new.’ Please contact me at LPI World Headquarters (my garage and home!) at 973-533-9336 or njhomeless@aol.com to discuss and arrange delivery or pick-up.”
In closing, Friedman said, “As the end of the tax year is upon us, I’m respectfully asking Livingston residents to keep some of their philanthropic giving right here in town. LPI is an all-volunteer organization with little overhead. There are no salaries or expenses paid to volunteers, only costs to maintain our insurances and a few office expenses. Otherwise, all contributions are allocated to purchasing the basics of life for those who need them the most.”
Photo: Livingston Philanthropies, Inc. (LPI) director Jeff Friedman is “inviting Livingston’s service, religious and educational organizations, along with local offices and corporate entities, to join Livingston’s Temple B’Nai Abraham’s successful effort to provide ...
