(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico, Senior Correspondent for "One-on-One," and so pleased to be joined now by Jessica Padilla Gonzalez, the CEO of CUMAC, an essential organization working to feed people and change lives in Passaic County.

Jessica, it's so great to have you with us.

- Thank you so much for having us today.

- So CUMAC is celebrating 40 years of service, and I know you've been busier than ever before.

First, describe for us some of the services that you're offering.

- Great, so CUMAC has been around for 40 years, and one of the key things that we offer here is our Choice Pantry, which operates five days a week from 9:30 to 3:30.

We also have a mobile pantry that goes to every municipality at least once a month throughout Passaic County.

And then we also offer home delivery to guests that live within 10 miles of CUMAC that may be seniors, disabled, or dealing with some health issues.

- Full Choice Pantry, you mentioned that, we hear that a little bit more often now.

Describe what that model is and how it's really making a positive impact on the folks that are coming in to shop for food.

- Excellent, so CUMAC is very embedded in the idea of trauma-informed care and self-healing communities.

So being able to give our guests the opportunity to pick and choose the foods that they want and they need is part of being trauma-informed.

There's nothing worse than a family getting a bag of groceries or food that they don't typically, that they don't know how to cook.

So having somebody come in, be able to push a cart, touch and feel, look at the labels, and determine what it is that they really need for their household that day is part of what choice is all about.

- So they're coming in, they're shopping, they're able to get what they want, and then are there other services that are provided within that atmosphere?

Other things that maybe they can tap into that maybe they weren't even looking for when they first came in, when they're looking for food, but things that might be really essential for them?

- Yes, a hundred percent.

So CUMAC also became an official SNAP Navigator in 2023, so that means that we provide education around what SNAP is, who may qualify, and we also assist families with their applications.

We also have a space that we call the Collaboratory, where we bring in other essential nonprofits and other community providers to do all sorts of things.

We've had a health fair where we do screenings, we offer legal housing, anything you could really think about, we try to bring it here for our guests so when they have their appointment to shop our market, they have access to other resources that they may not be able to get to with their busy days.

- SNAP.

You mentioned SNAP.

It's definitely a buzz word, or a buzz acronym, if you wanna say that.

We've been hearing a lot in the news.

We're taping in October, mid-October, we don't really know what's going to be happening with the services, but can you help us understand that a little bit more?

Who benefits, what are some misconceptions and misnomers when it comes to SNAP benefits?

- So I think the biggest thing that people need to understand is that recipients of SNAP are typically seniors, working households.

Seniors specifically that are on fixed incomes, individuals who are underemployed, or just people that need a little bit of assistance during a trying time.

The key thing that I want everyone out there to understand is that SNAP applications are really difficult to process.

There are many barriers for people to get $6 a day for their families to eat, right?

It's not something that they put their name and address, there are many levels of verification that this involves, and sometimes it could take individuals anywhere from 60 to 90 days or longer to be able to provide that additional verification to get the SNAP dollars, which isn't really a lot of money, at the end of the day, for the household.

- Six dollars a day.

Like, how far can that even go?

- I, honestly, when I think about it, it breaks my heart.

So our team helps individuals process those applications.

We're also very fortunate that our Board of Social Services has decided to partner with us, and we have a full loop team here on site.

So we were looking at our numbers for this year, and we provided over $48,000 in SNAP to our community, to our guests.

And now that may be jeopardized with the shutdown.

So it's something that we are thinking about, had a staff conversation about it yesterday, like, how are we gonna be able to assist these families that now don't know whether or not they're gonna get those dollars in the next few weeks?

- And overall, federal funding cuts are impacting organizations like yours, as well as state federal funding cuts.

I know for 2026, CUMAC did make it into the New Jersey State budget, $250,000 allocated for your organization, but is that even enough?

- So we are so grateful that we made it into the budget, I think that's the first thing.

But no, it is not enough.

We're seeing record numbers this year.

We just kind of ran the numbers real quick.

We're seeing 10,000 individuals more this time, same timeframe last year.

And I think the scariest part about it is what's gonna happen November 1st if thousands, millions of families don't get their SNAP dollars refilled, right?

So I think that's something that we're really thinking about and preparing for.

So the 250, we're very grateful for it, but we're always looking for more donations.

We're trying to definitely make sure that our shelves are full so that families don't go hungry.

- How are you doing that?

How are you preparing?

And how important are those community partners that you're working with to get that food on the shelves for the people in need?

- So the ways that we get food to the pantry is we get some food from the community food bank.

Our team actively gleans, so that's food rescue, so excess food from supermarkets, things of that nature, and then individual donations or drives.

So we have three options now where individuals can, we have an Amazon wishlist, we have a Give Healthy, where people can buy food and it gets directly delivered to us.

But most importantly, we rely on the generosity of our community, at the end of the day.

And the funds that we've set aside to be able to buy complete meals for our family, because that's something that we do that's a little bit different than most pantries, is we're actually buying milk, eggs, canned goods, rice, pastas, so that people leave with a complete meal versus the random items that we may be able to rescue.

- You touched upon it a little bit before, but the mobile food pantry.

We're always talking about meeting people where they are.

How impactful has that been to bring that around to the communities in Passaic County?

- So the mobile pantry has been a little bit of a challenge, right?

Because we've realized that we're going out during the hours that most people are working, right?

So those people that are actually utilizing our pantries are employed, right?

So we're talking about people that have jobs, they have their appointments.

So we've started to partner with nonprofits that do provide services to the low-to-moderate income communities.

But we are going to where they are to make sure that they don't have to travel to Paterson, and that we're going to some of the furthest municipalities here in Passaic County to make sure they have access to food.

- There is an increase year-to-year for these types of services that you're providing.

What are your expectations?

What are you thinking 2026 is going to look like for you?

How many people are you expecting to come through your doors?

- If I could give you a number, I would love to say less than this year, but when I first started here at the organization and we said we were gonna hit 50,000 individuals, we said that's impossible that we're gonna be able to do that.

This year, we're on track to serve over 80,000 individuals, right?

So next year, with everything that's coming down, I have no idea what the number is, but I can say from the bottom of my heart that my team finds a way to make sure that their neighbors don't go hungry.

- We need people like you, like your team, boots on the ground, people working to make sure our neighbors don't go hungry.

It's just such an important organization, and we thank you so much for joining us, more about it.

We've had the website up the whole time so people can log on and learn more about what you and your team are doing, and ways that they can help.

So thank you so much, Jessica.

We really appreciate it.

- Thank you so much, again, for elevating this topic and making sure that people know what's really happening on the ground, thank you.

- Thank you.

And for Steve Adubato and myself, thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

The Adler Aphasia Center.

Congress Hall.

A Cape Resorts property.

PSE&G.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Johnson & Johnson.

NJM Insurance Group.

And by Valley Bank.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by NJ.Com.

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