Indian Hills Freshmen Jebriel Tantawi Raised Over $5,000 for Local Food Pantry

Back in early January, Indian Hills freshman Jebriel Tantawi had watched a news segment highlighting the rise in food insecurity due to the pandemic.  He was so upset and wanted to do something about it, so he reached out to the Smile for Charity organization in Passaic which serves Passaic and Bergen counties to find out the needs of their respective food pantries, i.e., essential items they are unable to get from the greater NJ food bank.  After a couple of phone meetings, Jebriel created a gift registry on Amazon to offer a contactless way of donating the items needed by the food pantry.  The registry included olive oil, formula, baby food, hygiene products, pasta, tomato sauce, paper towels, and toilet paper.  Jebriel then created flyers that were distributed through social media. The food drive ran through March 15th and the response was truly amazing!  Jebriel raised over $5,000 in products for the Food Pantry and was able to deliver some goods himself, as well as help organize the Smile for Charity Food Pantry.  The Smile for Charity organization manager, Melinda, has been so incredibly appreciative of the donations which are still coming. 

You can see the News12 story here:

https://newjersey.news12.com/jersey-proud-oakland-teen-collects-donations-for-new-jersey-food-bank