Give: Local peanut butter and jelly drive to feed children in need this summer

According to Long Island Index, 8% of all Long Island children live in poverty and 24% of school-aged children qualify for free or reduced lunch based on their household income. This alarming statistic is the reason why Northport-East Northport residents Deirdre Poh Hutton and Denise Rogers began collecting peanut butter and jelly for local shelters during the month of June six years ago.

Hutton and Rogers, both real estate agents at Douglas Elliman in Huntington, said that they wanted to be able to help the children in need during the summer season, when they aren’t being provided school lunches, and local pantries, which are very low on supplies this time of year. “During the holidays, a lot of corporations give [to the pantries], especially during Thanksgiving time. But once the nice weather comes, they forget that people still need food,” Hutton told the Journal.

Six years ago, the Douglas Elliman office in Northport, which has since relocated to Huntington, began this summer food drive, receiving enough peanut butter and jelly jars to stock the First Presbyterian Church pantry in Northport Village and Saint Anthony of Padua pantry in East Northport.

Last year, the team was able to fill four pantries, adding Helping Hands in Huntington and Saint Joseph’s in Kings Park to the recipient list.

While Hutton and Rogers usually end the drive on June 30, they will be collecting peanut butter and jelly one more time, on Tuesday, July 4 at the Northport Stop and Shop on Fort Salonga Road, in order to meet their goal of stocking the four pantries. It’s been a tough year to give, they said, with today’s economic hardships, but they are hopeful to collect the estimated 75 jars of peanut butter and jelly needed for each pantry.

In the past, when dropping the jars off to the pantries, they’ve been met with tears of gratitude and have received thank you letters from recipients. “There’s a great need,” Rogers said. “As real estate agents we are out there a lot, but this cause is near and dear to our hearts because it’s just to give back.”

To make a peanut butter and jelly donation, drop off jars with Hutton and Rogers on Tuesday, July 4 at the Northport Stop and Shop from 11am-2pm or the Douglas Elliman office at 164 East Main Street in Huntington.