100-yard challenge: Rumson high school fills football field with food donations ahead of SNAP benefit cutoff deadline
The football field at Rumson Fair Haven High School was a sea of yellow Sunday afternoon. Dermer Dreams, a New Jersey based charity organization, fulfilled their goal of covering the field with tens of thousands of bags of food.
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Hundreds of thousands of people in New Jersey will lose their SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 if the government shut down continues. Ahead of the anticipated fallout, local communities are stepping up to help.
The football field at Rumson Fair Haven High School was a sea of yellow Sunday afternoon. Dermer Dreams, a New Jersey based charity organization, fulfilled their goal of covering the field with tens of thousands of bags of food.
"To actually walk down those stairs right there and see what the field looked like was just breathtaking," Jeremy Schulte, the football coach at Rumson Fair Haven, said.
"It's not about a visual...It's about us all understanding that we have to do something bigger to help this problem that's getting out of control," Daniel Dermer, CEO and founder of Dermer Dreams, said. "We have so many people standing in food bank lines. We heard this week that SNAP programs are going away. The food bank lines are just going to explode now.”
Volunteers at Rumson Fair Haven said food insecurity is all too real for many people in surrounding communities.
"You don't know what people could be going through right now, and you just have to be appreciative of what we have and also help out people in need," student volunteer Cole Spoonire said.
Dermer Dreams told News 12 they’ll have no choice but to ramp up their efforts as the shutdown drags on.
