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Every so often, Patch employees take time out of their busy schedules to give back to their communities.Patch employees from Essex County spent Thursday morning building cardboard boxes to be filled with food for New Jersey residents served by the Community FoodBank of NJ. Editors from the Caldwells, Bloomfield and Belleville Patch sites, along with New Jersey Regional Publisher Joe Ornegri, worked assembly-line style to create several pallets of boxes while learning about the important mission of this Hillside-based organization. The Community FoodBank of NJ fed 900,000 residents in 18 of the state's 21 counties last year. The non-profit also welcomed 30,000 volunteers in 2010, who after …
Today was Bloomfield Patch's first time participating in Give 5, a day where editors take a break from manning their Patch to volunteer within their communities. Editor Lia Eustachewich teamed up with The Caldwells Patch editor Teresa Akersten to lend a hand with the senior citizen holiday party at the Caldwell Community Center. About 40 senior citizens crowded the center to enjoy a home-cooked lunch of spiral ham, green beans and roasted potatoes. Santa even paid a special visit to the center, doling out gift bags filled with candy and a scratch-off lottery ticket.
