BRICK, NEW JERSEY Students and staff at the Ocean County Vocational Technical School’s Brick Center partnered again this year with Fulfill, formerly known as the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean County, and RWJ Barnabas Community Medical Center to prepare meals for those in need this Thanksgiving. Over 3,000 meals will be distributed through various local social service agencies such as Preferred Behavioral Health, DCCP, Inspire NJ, Golden Opportunities Outreach, and numerous local churches.

Culinary Arts students from the Brick Center, under the direction of their Culinary Arts instructors, prepare and roast over 350 turkeys, as well as preparing traditional side dishes including: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and gravy. In addition, several OCVTS Culinary Arts graduates will return to the Brick Center to lend a helping hand with this much needed community service. Many of these graduates who are currently employed in the Culinary field take time off from their work schedule in order to volunteer to be part of this extraordinary project. Massive assembly lines of students package the meals and prepare them to be distributed over several days and it is truly impressive to witness.

Fundraising efforts through the OCVTS Foundation, combined with the generosity of Fulfill, RWJ Barnabas Health, and financial contributions from the public fund this annual community service project which began over 20 years ago. Fulfill provides all of the turkeys, RWJ Barnabas Community Medical Center provides all of the additional food items needed to prepare the meals, and the Ocean County Foundation for Vocational Technical Education provides the packaging and containers needed for distributing these meals.

What does it take to prepare over 3,000 Thanksgiving meals?
BY THE NUMBERS…
Over 3000 lbs. of turkeys
1500 lbs. of potatoes
1200 lbs. of sweet potatoes
850 lbs. of stuffing
450 lbs. of green beans
90 gallons of gravy