Current Collection Drives
As we head into this holiday season, Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative will be collecting donations of shelf-stable food items, personal and hygiene supplies, and pet food to benefit the Sussex County Division of Social Service's food pantry. Local families in need turn to this food pantry as a critical resource during difficult times, especially around the holidays and in winter months. Social Services provides important aid to families as well as their pets, being one of the few local food shelters to stock pet supplies. For all of the great service they provide, their shelves are too often bare.
Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative is calling on its employees and members to come together to support the food pantry through our 2022 Food Drive. We will be collecting donations at our office, located across from the Sussex Airport, from Tuesday, November 1st to Friday, December 16th. Please join us in contributing to this great cause.
Below are some suggestions of items that are needed by patrons of the food locker. Other items in these categories will be accepted as well.
- Cereals
- Peanut butter
- Jelly
- Oats
- Nuts
- Shelf-stable milk
- Canned fruit, vegetables, or protein
- Soups
- Tuna
- Pasta
- Toothbrushes
- Toothpaste
- Soap or body wash
- Shampoo or conditioner
- Deodorant
- Razors
- Hand sanitizer
- Wipes
- Diapers
- Period products
- Wet dog food
- Wet cat food
- Dry dog food
- Dry cat food
- Puppy food
- Kitten food
- Kitten milk replacement
- Dog treats
- Cat treats
- Pill pockets
Let's work together to spread some holiday cheer to our neighbors in need!
Past Collection Drives
2022 Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive
From June 17th, 2022 to July 28th, 2022, Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative held the Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive to support the animals at Father John's Animal House, a local shelter in Lafayette, NJ. Sussex Rural previously asked its members for their help in collecting supplies for Father John's Animal House in early 2020. SREC teamed up with other community partners to expand this next collection drive beyond SREC members to include the whole community, and ultimately ended up collecting 775 lbs of pet food and supplies for the animals at Father John's!
Donations were collected at Franklin Sussex Automall, at 315 NJ-23, Sussex, NJ 07461. We began this supply drive with a collaboration with iHeart Media Sussex's Pet of the Week segment with Steve Allan, filmed at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative's office on June 16th. Another Pet of the Week episode, filmed at Franklin-Sussex Auto Mall on July 28th, capped off the drive. If you missed it, you can find it here.
We are incredibly proud of the results of this community effort that will go on to help rescue animals at Father John's, as well as other local shelters that they share supplies with. Thank you for helping supporting animals in need in our community!
Before the conclusion of this supply drive, SREC also produced a video spotlighting pet adoption and how it fits into the Concern for Community that drives us as a co-op.
Holiday Food Drive 2021
While our office remains closed to the public, we at Sussex Rural Electric once again sponsored a collection drive. We called on our members to make donations of nonperishable, shelf-stable, and canned food items to benefit the Sussex County Division of Social Services' food pantry. This collection drive ran from November 1st, 2021 to December 16th, 2021. As the holidays grew nearer and temperatures began to drop, it was all the more important to provide essential food items to those in need.
Members were able to stop by our office with their donation items. While our lobby was closed to the public, members arriving with food items could ring the doorbell by the main entrance and leave their donations in our vestibule once buzzed inside by our member services staff.
Father John's Animal House Collection Drive
After hosting several successful donation drives to support underprivileged members of our community, SREC shifted focus to helping another group that needs support, animals without homes. From February 6 - March 5, 2020, Sussex Rural Electric hosted a supply drive to benefit Father John's Animal House in Lafayette. We partnered with iHeart Media to make this possible. We hosted Steve Allan and the 102.3 WSUS team at our office to film episodes of the Pet of the Week, featuring animals from Father John's, to start and end this collection drive.
At the end of the month-long collection, it was clear that our members pulled off something amazing! Overall, we collected over 330 pounds of pet food, along with a plethora of other items such as pet toys and other supplies, office supplies, and cleaning items. We are proud to have also presented the good people from Father John's with a check for $1,000 from our community action fund. This comes from a fund of capital credits that have remained unclaimed by former members. Since we cannot reach these members and we are a not-for-profit organization, we choose to reinvest this money back into the community when we can.
We are proud to support great, local organizations like Father John's Animal House. If you are looking to add a new furry friend to your family, please consider adopting an animal from a shelter instead of buying one from a pet store. You can find more information about Father John's Animal House at https://www.fatherjohns.org/.
Holiday Toy Drive
In 2018 and 2019, Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative has hosted a toy drive on behalf of Family Promise of Sussex County. We collected donations of toys and new or lightly used winter clothing for the children and families of our communities who have or will experience homelessness. Families now comprise as high as 35% of the homeless population. 1 in 5 homeless people is a child.
During these drives, we have called on our membership to help make these children's holidays a little brighter, and they answered that call! After the collection ended, we had over 80 individual gifts that Family Promise could give to a child in need. We rewarded our members' kind donations with a free four-pack of LED light bulbs.
Donations were distributed as gifts to local children at Family Promise of Sussex County's annual client Christmas party.
Stand Down for Veterans Clothing Drive
In May of 2019, we hosted a supply drive to collect clothing items for our county's population of homeless veterans. The new or lightly used clothing, as well as hygiene and toiletry items, donated by our members was distributed to these veterans at Pass It Along's Stand Down for Veterans event. This event welcomes homeless military veterans and in addition to clothing offers them free haircuts, warm meals, access to resources such as medical, legal, and mental health consultation.
At the end of the collection, our members had donated over 600 pounds of clothing and hygiene items to be given to veterans at this event! We are incredibly proud to have such generous members. As a reward for our members' kindness, we gave away a free four-pack of LED light bulbs for every donation.