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welcome to Jersey matters I'm Larry Mendte she was once lieutenant governor she once ran for governor and now she is trying to provide healthy and abundant food for families in Monmouth and Ocean County please welcome kim Guadagno former lieutenant governor of new jersey and CEO of fulfil congratulations in the new position thank you it's great to be here to be back yeah thanks for coming in tell me what fulfill is well fulfill used to be the food bank of mama thin Ocean County so we feed about a hundred and thirty six thousand what we call food insecure people every year about fifty thousand of them are children our job is to make sure not only that people get the food they need to survive in Monmouth and Ocean County but also the skills they need to get off the food bank line all together so instead of calling it the food bank we call it fulfill because we want to fulfill the needs of the people who are food instead there was no stigma with food bank was there did you feel there was oh no not at all not at all I think I think people if they needed food knew that they could come to the food bank they still can come to the food bank we serve about two hundred and eighty different pantries shelters and soup kitchens throughout the two counties and those are the same as they were before we change their name yeah you gave the numbers and it sounds like there's a need is there enough of a supply do you have any trouble getting the food well we always have trouble getting food anybody who wants to donate I'm really happy if they want to just pick up the phone or go online and do fulfill NJ org and donate food or funding because we often have to purchase our food it's really hard at times and I think we should talk about this in a minute it's hard to get good quality protein in other words meat or fish for our needy families or our neighbors I like to call them because it's really one in ten of us in Monmouth and Ocean County that are hungry every day and it's almost you know it's unacceptable I'm a parent I have three kids it's unacceptable that a child in the counties as rich as Mama's and Ocean counties are goes to bed at night hungry and so we can always use more food we can always use donations we can always you know use some cash to to buy some decent quality food for our neighbors quite fine we can talk about it right now you do have a new initiative to provide fish fish products or for the people that need food in the two counties I know it sounds kind of odd but most people don't know that New Jersey is one of the largest industries in New Jersey as commercial fishing and those commercial fishermen go out everyday bring in a load of fish and some of that fish is not what they're fishing for the day or it's not really the right kind of fish for whatever the season is and they throw that fish back we want to capture we want to catch that fish and feed it to the people in Monmouth and Ocean County can use it use it the most quite frankly and it's the only one of its kind in the country in terms of a non-profit volunteer organization it's a process it goes from the dock where the fishermen come in offload the catch that they don't want they call it bycatch catch that they don't want it goes to a processing plant where its prospects like any other kind of fish and then we pick it up and distribute it to our soup kitchens and our food pantries it's a great idea do you have you must have some confidence that it's going to work it's already working it's already working we did a soft launch in August because we were concerned you know are people ready to eat fresh fish and and fish is frozen but it's caught fresh and processed are they gonna like the recipes or they're gonna be used to eating this kind of fish because like I said most food insecure people don't get protein at all when you say it's already working the reason I was a little skeptical is because there's so many stages there's so many people involved that have to help out it all starts with fishermen being willing to keep fish that they're not going to be able to sell well you know it was their idea it was their idea a couple years ago they captured about a thousand pounds of tuna this is the story I was told and it was right before Thanksgiving now what do you eat a Thanksgiving turkey turkey nobody eats tuna so they threw pounds of tuna away that's when someone said wait a minute there's got to be a way to capture this and give it to people that would otherwise not have not just Turkey nothing at Thanksgiving and therein lies the birth of what's what's called American gleaned seafood that's the organization that came to us and said we would really like to try this process picking up the the catch that the fishermen the commercial fishermen don't want processing in it and then having Monmouth and Ocean County fulfill distribute it out and we started it with a grant from Tyson's Foods this summer and it's working people the reports back from the soup kitchens and the pantries are send us more because they like it the people that are being served by the soup kitchens like it it tastes good we provide them with recipes through our chefs to make it sure that it does taste good and and it's something that they want to eat and I'm told that there's a demand now then it's gonna just get more fits we hope to take it nationwide oh no it's a wonderful idea there's so many benefits there's social benefits there's health benefits there's humanitarian benefits let's make sure we give everybody credit you said Tyson Foods you said glean you you talked about the fishermen are we leaving anybody else sure we are we that you couldn't do this unless you had a processor somebody who processed the fish in a way that was safe and compliant with all the federal and local regulations so we have Trinity out of Lakewood so we go from American gleaned the commercial fishermen the American glean seafood out of lavallette and Trinity out of Lakewood to fulfill out of Neptune and Toms River congratulating all of those entities together for a good cause so it's wonderful that's gonna work out well I think the fishermen don't like to throw fish away they don't like to see it wasted so now instead of throwing it away they'll give it to us we'll process it and use it for for good things give me the phone numbers and the address and the website address one more time they could fulfill NJ org if you go on fulfill NJ org you can donate not just to this program but we have a huge number of programs that help people get off the line so we have culinary school we do taxes we signed you up for health insurance we signed you up for food stamps or a snap and we provide resources to families so not only do they have the ability to get off the food bank line but they can be self-sustaining it's a it's a great great organization well that's wonderful congratulations on the new position congratulations on the new endeavor and congratulations on the success of this program we only have one minute left are you going to run for governor again here it's coming Never Say Never Never Say Never but right now I'm fulfilled by being the president of the mamas and Ocean County Food Bank now called for so are you you know as a Republican you're looking at Trenton now it seems like there's infighting in the Democratic Party really are you enjoying it I'm not paying any attention you know the beautiful part about being where I am right now food insecurity is not Republican or Democrat food security is all of us and our families and our neighbors in our neighborhood so I don't have to I I don't have to ask if you're a Republican or a Democrat I just need to be sure that I need to have the resources I need in order to feed those hundred and thirty six thousand people in Monmouth and Ocean County who will go to bed tonight not knowing where their next meal is coming from thank you very much I appreciate you coming and always good to see you kim Guadagno former lieutenant governor of new jersey and president of fulfill Jersey matters continues right after this still to come on Jersey matters we'll tell you about a rock concert that's going to happen in New Jersey soon like no other and it's all for a great cause that's when we come right back you [Music]