NAIOP New Jersey staff, members and industry leaders visited the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Hillside in July for the association’s Community Action Food Drive & Volunteer Day. — Photos by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ
By Joshua Burd
It was early in the year, as told by Monica Casiello and Stacey Weinberg, that the two longtime NAIOP New Jersey trustees raised the prospect of bringing back the association’s annual volunteer day at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.
The idea quickly gained traction.
“We floated it at a board meeting, and the response was, I thought, pretty enthusiastic,” said Casiello, vice president of business development and marketing with U.S. Title Solutions. “I think people responded to the idea that, as an industry, we’re very, very fortunate and we should really give back. And whether it’s writing a check or packing a box, it’s a way to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Sure enough, NAIOP returned to the food bank’s Hillside facility in early July for the first time since 2019, following a hiatus that began during the pandemic in 2020. According to the organizations, volunteers at NAIOP’s morning and afternoon shifts combined for more than 200 hours worked as they prepared meal kits, packed bags of pasta and sorted donations, among other tasks that equated to an average of over 24,000 meals over about six hours.
The day of service also comes amid the commercial real estate development association’s renewed focus on community action, one of six goals outlined in a four-year strategic plan unveiled earlier this year. That means developing and promoting programs that encourage member involvement in such initiatives, increasing visibility of those efforts and strengthening and establishing partnerships with local community-focused organizations and local governments.
To that end, NAIOP also recently contributed $5,000 to the New Jersey School of Conservation’s School Partnership Program. The chapter’s investment directly supports New Jersey K-12 schools, particularly those without the resources to fund field experiences, by providing students with hands-on STEM or STEAM and environmental learning at the NJSOC.
“Through this donation, our chapter helped ensure that more students can access meaningful outdoor education and inspired other community-minded organizations to become partners in this vital statewide initiative,” NAIOP New Jersey CEO Dan Kennedy said.
SLIDESHOW: NAIOP New Jersey's Community Action Food Drive & Volunteer Day
Returning to the Community Food Bank, or CFBNJ, was a natural step in the first year of the strategic plan and reignited a partnership that began in 2010. Holding the event in July, as the organizations did in past years, also seemed like a logical choice.
“It’s a good time for people to maybe spend half a day outside of the office, bring coworkers with them and come together and participate in a nice volunteer day,” said Weinberg, director of leasing and acquisitions with Federal Business Centers. She added: “What I feel and what I’ve been hearing from people is that (they) want to participate. People want to do things.”
The volunteer day is “a very meaningful experience that you feel the impact of,” she said, especially given the added demand for food pantries in the summer when students don’t have access to free or reduced meals. CFBNJ, meantime, notes that volunteer hours throughout the year save it from hiring an additional 40 full-time employees.
Creating a smooth experience is essential to those partnerships, as evidenced by the ease of the interactions between NAIOP members and the food bank employees, who guided them on everything from checking expiration dates to making meal kits.
“Everybody who works here — all the people who directed us and helped us — are just incredibly knowledgeable,” Casiello said. “Everything is down to a science in there’s and it’s foolproof for volunteers. It’s a very pleasurable volunteer experience.”
Giving back
NAIOP New Jersey visited to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey’s Hillside facility on July 10, marking the return of its Community Action Food Drive & Volunteer Day. The work by chapter staff, members and colleagues included:
- Preparing 690 grilled chicken meal kits and breakfast meal kits
- Packing 525 boxes for seniors
- Preparing 1,000 fish meal kits
- Packing 1,516 bags of pasta, with 160 repack cases
NAIOP New Jersey also pledged to donate $5,000 to CFBNJ.
“We were so thrilled to be back volunteering with CFBNJ, and we thank them for having us,” NAIOP New Jersey CEO Dan Kennedy said. “We are incredibly grateful that so many people came out and volunteered. It’s always an honor to partner with CFBNJ to help make a difference for our communities.”
