BURLINGTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Burlington City police have been building their relationship with the community through an ongoing food drive that is now expanding to serve a wider area.
It's called "The City Strong Initiative," a three-pronged approach to assisting the food insecure. The Burlington City Police Department joined forces with other community groups to feed school kids, deliver meals to homes and through food pantries.
"In Burlington City, we have over a 60% poverty rate when it comes down to children in need of free lunch or breakfast through the school district," said Burlington City Police Chief John Fine.
Since the pandemic, according to Fine, 35,000 meals have been delivered to students in the school district, and 65-70 meals are delivered weekly to homes in Burlington alone. Food has been donated from several sources, including the state Department of Agriculture and South Jersey Food Bank.
"We're bringing their breakfast, their lunch to brighten their day up, so it's been very successful," said Fine.
He said that since the need is still there, free meals are now expanding to other river towns, including Florence, Beverly, Edgewater Park, Delanco and Willingboro Township. "We know that the needs of the community right now are unique and we're trying to meet that need," he added.
Fine maintained that this is what policing is truly about.
"Policing is not about enforcement, it's about serving the community," he said. "When you're watching our police officers, our sheriff's officers delivering the meals, you're seeing children excited to see police officers. The children are now interacting with our officers in such a positive light."