The initiative features a food truck equipped to serve prepared and packaged meals directly to individuals facing food insecurity. The project, UCC officials said, can adapt to meet the needs of the community, help overcome the barriers of transportation encountered by low-income residents and eliminate the stigma of going to a food pantry or soup kitchen.

The new initiative follows suit with another recent effort UCC has led to address food insecurity, establishing a community fridge in the city’s East Ward. The unit provides residents around-the-clock access to staple goods such as milk, juice, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables, all at no cost. In celebration of next week’s UCC Café ribbon-cutting, organization officials will debut another community fridge at South 8th Street.

“We are in some interesting times between social distancing and the lifting of those restrictions. We have to figure out ways to be better stewards for our community, caregivers to our neighbors, and the mobile feeding program and the community refrigerators both represent the forward-moving and reach into the communities that we want to serve,” UCC Executive Director Craig Mainor told TAPinto Newark.

“We have to stay on our toes and be flexible enough to meet the needs of the community.”

Mainor noted that about 40% of Newark residents don’t own a car, making it difficult for many residents to access meals by foot. By establishing a mobile feeding program like the UCC Café, hot meals can get delivered directly to the city’s at-risk residents. Meals are cooked and pre-packaged at a kitchen on 19th Avenue and then brought onto the truck to be delivered directly to the community. The service caters to UCC’s senior clients and shelter guests, and it will be made available to partners and others in need of assistance.