THE SHARING PROJECT
WELCOME!
Welcome to The Sharing Project website!
Through my time studying under the International Baccalaureate program at West Morris Mendham, I learned about the power of philanthropy and our ability to help others beyond just monetary donations.
Food insecurity is one of the persistent global challenges our generation will continue to face. Over 690 million people globally and over 40 million Americans face hunger every day. To help our community members in need, The Sharing Project - a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization was founded in 2020 with the mission to grow and donate fresh, healthy food through a partnership between high school volunteers, local gardening & farming communities, and local
food pantries.
Over our first 5 gardening seasons, The Sharing Project volunteers planted, grew, harvested, and donated over 6500 lbs of fresh produce. We also established three active chapters in Mendham, Chester and Randolph, where our student volunteers work in 3 gardens and actively seek to expand our impact by encouraging new teens and communities to create local chapters in their towns. The Sharing Project is growing and our desire to continue to help others only grew with every delivery of produce and the positive feedback we received from the Chester Mendham and Interfaith Food Pantries, Twelve Baskets Food Pantry and Table of Hope.
The Sharing Project was founded as a student-run organization and in order to raise the next generation of leaders, our first Student President Emily Borinshteyn proposed to expand our mission to educate the youth on gardening, healthy nutrition, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability; thus the Young Gardener Club was born.
In order to help more families in Morris County and build a home for the Young Gardener club as well as a gathering place for local gardening community, we embarked on the ambitious goal of building The Sharing Project Community Garden on the former Mount Pleasant baseball field.
We are grateful to Emily for the outstanding leadership of the garden construction. She developed the garden plan, ran multiple fundraisers, engaged local organizations, and organized new student volunteers and community members. There is enough space to not only establish a plentiful garden to grow produce for all clients of the Chester Mendham and Interfaith Food Pantries but also provide garden plots for community members!
As Emily started college she transitioned The Sharing Project leadership to our second Student President Nicholas Leo who has done an outstanding job engaging new student volunteers, expanding our impact and building partnerships, running multiple fundraisers to fund building permanent water supply to The Sharing Project Garden in Mendham and more.
Would you like to learn more and get involved? We would appreciate any support our neighbors can provide so together we can grow and share the joy of gardening while helping others and having a positive impact on our community. If you know teenagers who like to learn about gardening and passionate to fight hunger in their communities – please send them our way.
We would support them in establishing The Sharing Project chapter in their town and help them help others.
With warm regards,
Matthew Borinshteyn
Founder and Chairman of the Board
SUPPORT OUR MISSION
FOOD INSECURITY FACTS
facts about poverty and hunger in the US:
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Even in the world’s greatest food-producing nation, children and adults face poverty
and hunger in every county across America.
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In 2023 alone, more than 50 million people turned to food assistance for extra help.
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Food banks, food pantries and community organizations unite to help millions of people access affordable, nutritious food for themselves and their families.
Source: Feeding America's annual report Charitable Food Assistance Participation
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More than 47 million people in the US face hunger, including 1 in 5 children (14 million children).
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Millions of people in the US don't have enough food to eat or don't have access to healthy food.
Source: USDA's annual Household Food Insecurity in the United States report
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In 2024 Nearly 1 million people in New Jersey are food insecure, a 22% increase over the previous year, according to Feeding America’s annual Map the Meal Gap study. This includes more than 260,000 children – about 1 in 8.
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People experience food insecurity in every community.
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However, people in rural communities and the South are often more likely to lack access to enough food. This is because of many factors like poverty, unemployment, and the cost of living.
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Source: https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america
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Inequality is a root cause of food insecurity for people of color
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Food insecurity happens to people of all races and ethnicities. However, it is more common for people of color because of the long history of racism and discrimination in the United States.
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Source: https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america
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facts about poverty and hunger in the world:
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In a world up to 783 million people — 1 in 10 of the world’s population regularly go to bed hungry.
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Food insecurity is increasing at an alarming rate.
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In 2022, nearly 258 million people across 58 countries experienced crisis-level food insecurity or worse, according to the World Food Program (WFP).
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More children will suffer life-threatening forms of malnutrition.
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Over 45 million children are dangerously malnourished. These 45 million children suffer from wasting, also known as acute malnutrition, with over 1 million children dying each year.
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Source:https://www.worldvision.org/hunger-news-stories/world-hunger-facts