New cook with same mission: Feed the hungry
Lunch Break has someone new in the kitchen
BY MELISSA KARSH
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Bette Ivory cooks for 100 or more people daily at Lunch Break in Red Bank, preparing the day's meal in the morning to be served at noon when Lunch Break provides lunch to those in the community who are hungry and in need.

RED BANK - It's noon and people who are hungry and in need are settling in to enjoy a meal at Lunch Break, a soup kitchen and much more on the corner of Bergen Place and Drs. James Parker Boulevard.

Bette Ivory has already been at work for five hours, arriving at the building at 7 a.m. She is the facility's cook and is a new addition to the almost 25-year operation, having worked there for nine months.

"I thought it would be interesting I could do something to help and I found out I can," said Ivory on July 25. "You meet so many different people and the volunteers have been so wonderful."

The Red Bank native, who now lives in Neptune, had previous experience as a cook for 26 years at Head Start programs all over New Jersey, including Red Bank. She also helped out in the Lunch Break pantry and was then recommended for the cook's job.

Her new position represents a challenge, because most of the food she prepares each day is donated.

"You had menus you could follow," said Ivory of her experience at Head Start.

At Lunch Break, Ivory does not know what she will cook each day, the ingredients she has to cook with, the number of volunteers to help her or their experience level until she comes into work in the morning.

She admitted the first couple of months cooking lunch everyday for 100 or so people and then also preparing bagged lunches to be delivered were trying and needed some getting used to. She said her experience with cooking for the kids at the Red Bank recreation camp prepared her for the grind.

"It's relatively easy, I guess, because you're used to it," said Ivory. "It's hard for me cooking for one or two people. Or you got too much food because you are used to cooking big amounts."

Ivory isn't the only one working behind the scenes at Lunch Break, which originally started at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on East Sunset Avenue. The operation has a $160,000 budget, board members, pantry workers and many volunteers for it to run smoothly.

For those in need, a clothing operation is located in the basement of Lunch Break and the pantry, which provides bags of groceries, is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily

According to Vice President Hans Zweerink and board member Alex Kiczek, Lunch Break gets most of its funding from individual donors.

"It's really very gratifying to see individuals [contributing]," said Zweerink, of Shrewsbury. "That a community can come up with that kind of money, it speaks well."

Lunch Break serves approximately 2,300 hot lunches a month at its community center. Lunchtime guests include working adults, seniors, children and entire families.

Over the course of a year, Lunch Break assists more than 26,000 people who are struggling with poverty in Monmouth County.

On a year-round basis, Lunch Break provides hot and bagged lunches, groceries, clothing, health screenings, legal services and referrals to low-income residents of Monmouth County.

Three volunteers deliver food to seniors everyday, a nurse from the Visiting Nurse Association of Central New Jersey, Red Bank, comes twice a month to take blood pressure and answer health questions and a social worker from Monmouth County visits. In addition, a representative of Ocean County Legal Society is available once a month to provide legal advice.

"When I see everybody, they leave content with their little bags and everything, it's a warm feeling like I did something worthwhile," said Ivory.

Over the summer she enjoys working with the large number of young people who volunteer because they are out of school, or are seeking volunteer credits or for any number of other reasons. Today she has them peeling potatoes.

"It's a good feeling when you go home at night you sleep well. You know, you feel like you made a difference," she said.

The day's menu includes roast tenderloin of pork, macaroni and cheese, ratatouille, tossed salad, fruit salad, sandwiches, desserts and juice.

"Takes quite a bit sometimes to feed everybody," said Ivory. "It's a nice group of people you know and they seem appreciative of what they get and that makes a difference."

For more information on Lunch Break or to make a donation, visit the Web site at www.lunchbreak.org. or call (732) 747-8577.