Angela Krukauskas, founder of No1HungryinEHC, and Lynnie Couch
The AmeriHealth Be of Service campaign honors a Corporate Citizen of the Year and a Volunteer of the Year who go above and beyond for their community. Winners receive a $500 gift card from AmeriHealth and an additional $1,500 donated to a charity of their choice.
We recently interviewed Angela Krukauskas, founder of No1HungryinEHC and winner of the Be of Service Volunteer of the Year award.
Your charity had humble beginnings. Tell us a little bit about No1HungryinEHC and its transformation from a food pantry in your front yard to a registered 501(c)(3) charity.
In 2017, my husband went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated. He was in the hospital in critical condition and had to undergo surgery. At the time, my neighbors took care of everything — they watched and fed our kids, mowed the lawn, ran errands for us, and let me focus on my husband’s recovery. I would not have made it through that time without them.
During that period, I talked to God a lot and promised to pay back my community. I decided to start with a small food pantry in my front yard. When my husband was better, he built the pantry himself. I filled it with food and placed it in our front yard. It immediately took off. People kept coming and coming, I kept refilling it with donations from the community, and it kept growing. The traffic on my street never stopped.
No1HungryinEHC’s early days, in Angela Krukauskas’ front yard.
After a few years of this, the building owner across the street offered me space to fit my ever-growing food pantry. He ended up gifting me a defunct 4,500-square-foot building on Philadelphia Ave in Egg Harbor City.
The building was an incredible gift, but it needed major renovations; there was no heating, it needed a new roof, etc. We only had $6,000 in the bank when we moved to the new building, which was not nearly enough to fix the building. So, I wrote a letter detailing what our needs were and sent it out to the entire county. We had so many community donors who gifted us with paint, heat, labor, equipment, a new roof, you name it. People came out of the woodwork to help. We are a charity that runs 100 percent on donations. Since we have no corporate sponsors, everything is from small grants and community donations. It was incredible that we were able to renovate the entire building on community donations alone.
No1HungryinEHC opened its doors in the new building in April 2024, and I’m proud to say that throughout the entire move and renovation, we were operational and never had an empty shelf.
There are many different needs in our local communities. What drew you to food insecurity specifically?
Food insecurity is all I know. I was raised in restaurants and worked in nursing homes, so I always knew there was food insecurity in New Jersey.
Looking around, you may think everyone can afford a meal but that’s not always the case. In every community, there are always kids who are not well-off economically, kids who are hungry. Everybody needs to eat, and one simple thing I can do is feed people. There is always room at your table for one more.
What do you want people to know about food insecurity?
Anyone can be food insecure at any time. All it takes is one expensive bill. You don’t have to be “poor” or “homeless” to be food insecure. Many people are one day away from being hungry. There are a lot of single moms and dads, grandparents on a fixed income who are raising their grandkids. There are so many families who go to bed hungry. With the rising cost of groceries, it’s everywhere.
I also want people to know that no donation is too small. We use everything; nothing goes to waste here at No1HungryinEHC. No matter the size of your donation, someone is grateful to have it.
What does the AmeriHealth Be of Service award mean to you, and how will it help No1HungryinEHC?
We never received anything like the Be of Service award before. AmeriHealth is such a big, recognizable name and company, that it’s an honor to receive this award. I hope it helps open doors for other big companies to get involved in addressing food insecurity in New Jersey. Getting the AmeriHealth seal of approval is a huge win for us.
The funds we received from the award helped fill backpacks with back-to-school supplies for local students. Thanksgiving is coming up and we will also use the funds to help buy turkeys for local families in need. Any funds we receive always go back to the community.
What are some ways local residents can help No1HungryinEHC?
There are so many ways that residents can get involved, from cleaning out your cabinets and donating food, to offering your time and talents. We’re always grateful for help.
We’re in this amazing new building with wonderful gardens and could always use help getting it fixed up, painted, or just organizing shelves. If you write, we could use help with our communications. If you can donate food, we could use that. There is a myriad of ways to help. We need community involvement to keep our pantry up and running. And we need hands to fill our pantry every day. We are only able to do all that we do due to the generosity of our community.
How can others get involved in their local community?
One way to get involved in your community is through the schools. Schools are a great place to start because the teachers and administration know the students who are food insecure. Children go hungry all the time and you can reach them most effectively by working with the local schools.
What’s next for No1HungryinEHC?
We’re currently building a thrift store onsite where people can get secondhand items at a low-cost when they come in to get groceries. We hope to earn money for the food we buy to stock our shelves.
We work with other food pantries and small nonprofits to reach people, and we want to continue that collaboration because I’ve found that when we join forces, that’s where the magic happens.
We want to do whatever it takes to help people get what they need. We’re never going to turn anyone away. We started out with the goal of addressing food insecurity in New Jersey and ensuring that everyone has dinner on their table. Although that’s still our goal, we’ve also broadened our scope to include other needs.
For example, in addition to filling backpacks with back-to-school supplies, we also recently handed out bikes and helmets for kids. We have a storage unit with medical supplies and equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes, shower chairs, breast pumps, etc. We give away cars to single moms in need. We gift turkeys at Thanksgiving and supply families with Christmas gifts and winter coats for their kids. We show up onsite at house fires and other disasters and partner with the American Red Cross to help families who’ve lost their homes. If a family comes to me with a spur-of-the-moment need, all I ask for is an ID. My motto is: help first, ask later.
We are also a safe space for our community. If a child is locked out, they can come here, if someone wants to come by for a coffee and a chat, we’re here. I tell everyone no matter their circumstances, “Come on by.”
The bottom line is, we go to where the needs are. We will do whatever it takes to be there for our community.
