BPU Commissioner Upendra Chivukula volunteers in New Brunswick as the sixth annual 'Season of Service' kicks-off at a local food pantry for the 2016 holiday season.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Gov. Chris Christie's administration launched the sixth annual 'Season of Service' by highlighting activities that serve New Jersey's most vulnerable, including addicts and the homeless.
As part of the initiative, several volunteers, including Upendra Chivukula, a Board of Public Utilities (BPU) commissioner, loaded bags with food Monday at the Second Reformed Church's Five Loaves Food Pantry in New Brunswick. Chivukula has volunteered with the program for the past three years.
"We need more volunteers," he said. "Volunteerism is very fulfilling and its a great role model for our youngsters."
The church's Five Loaves Food Pantry serves more than 400 families in the Middlesex County area each month, according to Food Director Catherine Verduci. Some of the offerings at the pantry includes meats, fruits, vegetables, desserts and beverages.
She has been with the pantry for the past five years and works with seven volunteers, some of them Rutgers interns.
"This is hard work and we all give a lot of our time to helping others," Verduci said.
The pantry was established in 2009 by the Rev. Douglas Sheller to assist those in need in Middlesex County, specifically the New Brunswick area.
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