A township manufacturer of parking meters and mobile solutions is collecting Thanksgiving food donations for the First Baptist Church through Nov. 16.
Crystal Toomer, sales administrator at Flowbird, explained that the drive started after a co-worker told her about the youth service organization Live Civilly, which helped connect her to the church.
“ … Once I contacted First Baptist Church, I just fell in love with them,” she said. “They were so accommodating.”
Toomer emphasized that Flowbird isn’t taking donations from the public but only from its staff.
“ … We’re already here at this building and we all go food shopping,” she noted. “Just pick up an extra can of something or whatever you have in your pantry that maybe you bought a bunch of but you really didn’t like …
“Whatever you can; we all need to help each other (in) this time.”
Toomer has been with Flowbird for three years and is passionate about its annual holiday drives.
“ … They (the company) also told me that they do things at Easter time as well, so it’s something that I’m looking forward to probably doing in the springtime,” she said.
First Baptist’s food pantry is open Tuesday and Thursday; hours are listed on fbcmoorestown.org.
“Our concentration with them is mainly anything that you would eat at Thanksgiving time,” Toomer explained. “ … They (First Baptist) are in need of everything, so whatever you think would make a meal is the perfect thing to give.”
First Baptist recently celebrated its 185th anniversary. Toomer described her experience working with its members.
“I just fell in love with them and the church,” she remarked. “This is somewhere that I could visit … I see it more (than) as a food pantry. It was like a family. The spirit, the feeling that you would get, that home type of feeling, came through with that church.”
Toomer said the Thanksgiving food drive has brought her and her co-workers closer.
“By the end of all of this, I’d like for them to feel that we are a team,” she added. “It’s such a cliche, ‘Oh, we’re a team and team players,’ until you put it into action. Doing this has really brought everybody together, I think, and put things in action.”
For more information on First Baptist’s food pantry, visit https://www.fbcmoorestown.org.
