Virtua Leaders Volunteer to Provide Meals to Local Children as Part of Food Bank of South Jersey’s Summer Meals Program

A Virtua volunteer helps children with their lunch.

Members of Virtua’s leadership team recently announced that they participated in the Food Bank of South Jersey’s Summer Meals program by providing a fresh and nutritious lunch to local children at the Martin Luther Christian School in Pennsauken.

The volunteers from Virtua prepared and served fresh lunches, consisting of chicken salad, apples and milk to nearly 50 children at the Martin Luther Christian School. The volunteers spent lunchtime interacting with the children and made sure they had enough to eat.

“Virtua is strongly committed to healthy food access and food-as-medicine programs in our community. We are proud to partner with great organizations like the Food Bank of South Jersey. Virtua’s support of the Summer Meals program is another component of our strategic partnerships,” said Al Campanella, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Virtua.

It is estimated that more than 57,000 children in South Jersey face food insecurity. When school ends for the year, parents who relied on school meals to provide nourishment for their children during the day are left with few options. The Food Bank’s Summer Meals program provides children with fresh and nutritious meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 10 weeks in the summer. Last year’s program provided 395,000 meals to 8,100 children in Burlington, Camden, Salem and Gloucester counties.

“We are so grateful to our sponsors and volunteers who have helped this program make a difference in the lives of more and more children each year,” says Joe Njoroge, Interim President & CEO, Food Bank of South Jersey. “Summer Meals is important not only to the children who enjoy the food, but to their parents. We are proud to be able to take some of the burden of replacing school-provided meals once summer hits.”

This year’s goal is to provide half a million meals to the children in Burlington, Camden, Salem and Gloucester counties who need it most.

If you are interested in becoming a Summer Meals sponsor, please visit https://foodbanksj.org/summermeals or email partner@foodbanksj.org.

About the Food Bank of South Jersey

The Food Bank of South Jersey (FBSJ) is the leader in providing safe and nutritional food to people in need throughout South Jersey. FBSJ distributes food, provides nutrition education and cooking courses, and helps food-insecure families and seniors find sustainable ways to improve their lives. In 2017, FBSJ provided over 13 million pounds of food to approximately 200,000 South Jersey residents. Providing community impact through local support, FBSJ ensures that local donations stay local. FBSJ is a member of Feeding America, our nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. To learn more, click here.

About Virtua
As one of New Jersey’s largest, non-profit health systems, Virtua provides comprehensive health care services to achieve its mission to help people be well, get well and stay well. Virtua provides services through Virtua Medical Group with 500 physicians and other clinicians, and at its urgent care centers, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, health and wellness centers, fitness centers, home health services, long-term care and rehabilitation centers, and paramedic program.

A leader in maternal and child health services, Virtua delivers nearly 8,000 babies a year. It provides health services to 1,500 businesses, and participates in Virtua Physician Partners, a clinically integrated network of 1,000 physicians and other clinicians. Virtua is affiliated with Penn Medicine for cancer and neuroscience and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for pediatrics.

It employs over 9,000 and has been honored as the #1 Best Place to Work in the Delaware Valley many times since 2007.

It is the recipient of a 4-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for quality of care, and its hospitals earned straight A’s in patient safety by The Leapfrog Group. U.S. News and World Report ranked Virtua’s Mount Holly and Voorhees hospitals as High Performing Hospitals and Voorhees as a Best Regional Hospital. Virtua is also the recipient of the Consumer Choice Award from the National Research Corporation. For more information, visit Virtua.org or the Virtua Broadcast Network.