By Jeff Friedman
Editor’s Note: This week, Livingston Philanthropies director and founder Jeff Friedman recounts, in his own words, his Livingston-based charity’s work with procuring frozen chickens for a Newark agency.
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Purchasing frozen whole chickens was a learning-moment for Livingston Philanthropies, Inc. (LPI) founder and director, long-time Livingston resident Jeff Friedman. “Chickens are nothing like coats,” he commented. LPI collected some 2,100 warm coats each year prior to the pandemic, providing warmth for homeless and hopelessly poor communities. Quickly re-inventing as needs expanded in communities living below the poverty line due to the pandemic, LPI moved into food, stocking Newark food pantries and family food giveaway events, all purchased with Livingston’s kind contributions.
After gaining experience buying fresh produce, hamburgers, hot dogs, baby food, diapers, formula and more, Friedman asked trusted distribution partner Amina Bey, executive director at Newark Emergency Services for Families (NESF), what might be needed for the agency’s upcoming “Free Grocery Giveaway” food pantry event. “Chickens would be a blessing,” Bey replied. “Frozen whole birds are best,”
I’ll save regular Tribune readers the minutia of how we had set up an online account with a restaurant supply house, which led to its independent refrigerated truck delivery vendor, which led to yet another account creation, and finally to a late delivery. Still, some 170 frozen chickens – 480 pounds worth – arrived in time for the hundreds of families that would be lined up the next day to provide nourishment for their children, some of whom are just babies.
“It was all good. Families were fed because Livingston neighbors stepped up once again,” commented Friedman.
“But the entire chicken episode was quite the learning-moment for me,” he chuckled. “Obviously, I know from nothing about procuring food.”
After NESF’s successful grocery giveaway, which fed hundreds of hungry Newark families, Friedman asked Bey how the chickens worked out. Her always-thoughtful response elicited an “oy vey” or something similar from Friedman. “The chickens worked out great! They helped a lot,” she reported. “Do they have any individually wrapped? They came in a case but loose, so they were frozen and all stuck together. We had to let them thaw before we could separate them and bag them up for family distribution.”
Hence, the learning moment for LPI’s founder and director. For the next time, which is coming up again next week when NESF facilitates its July “Free Grocery Giveaway,” Friedman has learned (the hard way) that ...
