Updated: 12 hours ago
By Chloe Zhao | Posted November 17, 2025
For local families whose SNAP benefits remain under threat, accessing food assistance through local food pantries has become imperative. Multiple Montgomery organizations, including scouts, police, teachers, local businesses (Kasia and Tiger's Tale), and the township's community center have all pitched in to ensure local families have sustenance during this difficult time.
Troop 850 Scouts Taher Santrampurwala and Aashman Chalukya collect food at Kasia Market in Belle Mead.
Between the government shutdown, which ended November 15, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called Food Stamps) is undergoing significant cuts. One of the most significant changes to the SNAP program is the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed earlier this year, according to the Harvard Kennedy School Explainer. This legislation will reduce SNAP funding —beginning immediately—by approximately $186 billion over 10 years. This will be a 20% cut, which marks the largest reduction in the history of the program. SNAP is federally funded and state administered.
Troop 850 is an active Scout-led group of boys comprising 6th graders to Junior and Seniors in High School. Organized by Scout and Montgomery High School student Taher Santrampurwala, Troop 850 will be hosting a food drive from November 6 to November 26. Donations should be dropped off in boxes marked with “Troop 850 Food Drive” in the following locations:
Kasia Market, 2311 US-206, Belle Mead
ShopRite of Montgomery,1325 US-206, Skillman
Montgomery High School, 1016 Rt 601, Skillman
Montgomery Upper Middle School, 375 Burnt Hill Rd, Skillman
Troop 850 Scout Ray Delnero collects food at Montgomery ShopRite.
Troop 850 Scouts will be present at the entrance of ShopRite on November 22 to encourage shoppers to donate by handing out shopping lists of needed goods. Goods will be consolidated and donated to the Montgomery Food Pantry located in the Otto Kaufman Community Center and Hillsborough’s Feeding Hands.
Inspired to help alleviate local concerns surrounding food insecurity, students Joshua Sambol, Naisha Singh, Michael Youtz, and Nupur Bhavsar at theCoderSchool Montgomery created the app PantryLink under the guidance of directors Dominique and Michael Young. As described by its developers, PantryLink is a “cohesive project that combines a website for food pantries to log information and an app for users and volunteers to receive updates”.
Prospective food pantries can join PantryLink’s system through their website, which enables them to log volunteers, inventory availability, and scheduling for streamlining logistics. Although the PantryLink app is currently unavailable on the Apple App Store, it can be downloaded through their Apple TestFlight link, which is a beta testing service that distributes pre-release apps. PantryLink is projected to officially join the Apple App store by 2026.
Joshua Sambol and his mother, Lana Sambol at TheCoderSchool in Montgomery.
Photo by Dominique Young
Joshua Sambol, who is a student at the Pennington School, believes the PantryLink app’s most helpful feature is its “local pantries” section, which can help users find the closest food pantry to their location.
“We heard from [Franklin Food Bank] that they've had occurrences where people have come in who drove an hour, just because that's the only food pantry they knew when there were much closer food pantries,” says Sambol. “So I think that feature would help a lot.”
PantryLink is also a submission to the Congressional App Challenge, hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives for middle and high school students with the mission to “inspire, include, and innovate efforts around STEM, coding, and computer science education." Sambol hopes to “get more features on [PantryLink]” and “publicity [to] reach more consumers” should PantryLink win in the 2025 competition.
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The Montgomery Township Education Association (MTEA) conducted a faculty food drive to support the Montgomery Food Pantry from October 29 through November 14. Staff across the district contributed more than seven carts worth of items. In addition, the MTEA secured a Public Education Partnership (PEP) grant from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) to purchase $750 in additional items for the food pantry.
Kim Vanatta, a teacher at Village Elementary School, with boxes full of donated items for the food pantry.
Photo courtesy of M.J. Narula.
Montgomery Township municipal employees are collecting food at the following locations, available during the business' hours:
Otto Kaufman Community Center, 356 Skillman Road, Skillman.
Montgomery Municipal Center, lobby, 100 Community Drive, Skillman.
Princeton Fitness and Wellness Center, lobby, Princeton North Shopping Center, 1225 State Road (Rt. 206)
If interested in donating, please look for foods that are not expired and items “most needed” by pantries. “Most needed” items are nonperishable goods such as cereals, dried foods, powders, canned goods, bottled drinks, hygiene products, bottled condiments, and others of similar nature.
For the month of November, Tiger's Tale Bar & Grill is a drop off center for the Montgomery Community Center's Food Pantry.
The Montgomery PBA hosted a food drive on November 15 & 16 in front of the Montgomery ShopRite.
The Food Pantry is located at Otto Kaufman Community Center. It is open to all Montgomery Township residents who are experiencing temporary financial hardships and having difficulty making ends meet.
Montgomery Township Community Resource Manager Lisa Carra oversees the food pantry - including patrons, volunteers, and donations. Appointments are necessary to protect the privacy of pantry clients. For more information, contact Lisa Carra at the Montgomery Food Pantry at 609.466.1054 or contact Emily Schreiner, the public health planner, at 908.544.4330.
ShopRite Gift Cards
Canned tuna, chicken & salmon
Canned veggies
Cooking oils
Shelf-stable milk
Pancake mix and syrup
Peanut butter & jelly
Canned fruits
Fruit juice
Soups (Suggestions – chicken noodle, chicken & rice, beef vegetable)
Ready-to-eat canned meals (Suggestions -chili (bean, chicken, beef), stew (vegetable, chicken, beef), ravioli (cheese, beef), chicken w/rice & vegetables, spaghetti & meatballs)
Hot cereals (Suggestions: oatmeal, steel-cut oats, farina, muesli)
Cold cereals (Suggestions: Toasted O’s (original or honey nut), bran flakes, corn flakes shredded, wheat brown rice, Grape-Nuts, Special K, Fiber One cereals, Cascadian Farms cereals, Kashi cereals)
They also urgently need personal hygiene and baby care products like diapers, wipes, toothpaste, and shampoo, as well as household items like paper products and cleaning supplies.
The Catholic Community of St. Charles Borromeo keeps an updated list of local food and community assistance organizations.
