Redevelopment Corporation reopens family building, food bank says it fed hundreds after EBT-card scam

Jill Lombardo, executive director of the Redevelopment Corporation, told viewers of the county program Spotlight on Cumberland County that the nonprofit’s recent renovation of “Building 3” on its Mays Landing Road campus created seven efficiency-style family units with a combined 45 beds and allowed intact families and single fathers to stay together at the Cumberland Family Shelter.

The expansion, Lombardo said, was funded in part through recovery money coordinated by the city of Vineland and recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with local officials including Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci and city economic development director Sandy Forsinski helping to secure the grant. Lombardo also described operational upgrades made during the COVID-19 pandemic — including an air purification system and revised protocols — and said those measures helped keep reported COVID cases at the shelter low.

Why it matters: The redevelopment project directly increases space for families experiencing homelessness in southern Cumberland County and, Lombardo said, corrects long-standing building disrepair that previously forced the shelter to split some families across separate buildings. The Redevelopment Corporation also runs the Southern Regional Food Distribution Center (SRFDC), a regional food bank Lombardo said moved nearly 4 million pounds of food last year and coordinated emergency food distributions after a recent EBT-card compromise.

On the shelter expansion and services

"We have seven rooms. Each one of them has a kitchenette and full bathroom," Lombardo said, describing Building 3 as a set of small efficiency apartments with space for playpens and cribs. She said the building enables families to remain intact — "so mom and dad and the kids will be able to stay together" — and allows the shelter to house single fathers with children, a population the site could not reliably house before the renovation.

Lombardo said the Redevelopment Corporation is the parent nonprofit for both the shelter and the SRFDC and that the campus sits on about 17 acres. She described operational staffing and services: shelter supervisors and social services staff screen potential residents, including background checks to protect women and children, work with partner agencies on transportation and school enrollment under the McKinney-Vento Act, and offer on-site offices for partner organizations. Lombardo said the organization was selected as one of three statewide pilot programs to host a mental health counselor on site and expected that counselor to return part time when additional funding became available.

On COVID precautions, facility upgrades and capacity

Lombardo said one of her immediate priorities after becoming executive director was repairing the buildings and installing a purification system in HVAC units early in her tenure. "We put the purification system in probably within the first month that I was there," she said, adding that among shelters that installed similar systems statewide, reported COVID cases were substantially lower. Lombardo said, from when she started in November 2020 through the present, the shelter recorded 12 COVID cases among the hundreds who have lived there.

On the Southern Regional Food Distribution Center and EBT-card response

Lombardo described SRFDC as one of six food banks recognized by the state of New Jersey and said the center supplies roughly 45 pantries, ranging as far north as Elizabeth and as far south as Cape May. "We probably were very close to about 4 million pounds last year," she said of the food SRFDC moved.

When several hundred residents had their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards compromised, Lombardo said SRFDC coordinated with the Cumberland County Board of Social Services, local pantries and county consumer affairs to stage emergency distributions. "We had over 300 to 400 people that had lost the cards," she said; the center worked with three pantry locations and preissued vouchers so staff could track who received supplies. Lombardo credited Cheryl Golden and the Board of Social Services for outreach and the county’s consumer affairs office for securing the point-of-sale machines afterward.

Partnerships, procurement and youth supports

Lombardo said SRFDC buys from local suppliers when possible — citing Maine Meats, Patinos, Pollard (Deli & Produce), and local seafood from Cape May — and is starting a program to purchase cosmetically imperfect produce ("number twos") from farmers to lower waste and support local producers. She also described a school-based pantry initiative that will place shelf-stable, meal-ready food in participating schools; Lombardo said those items can go home with students and do not require qualification.

Staffing and operations

Across the shelter and distribution operations, Lombardo gave several staffing figures during the interview: she said "we have 30 people that work in the shelter" and later noted a staff of about 20 in another context. She also named key staff: Stephanie Safa (lead social services worker), Krista (shelter supervisor), John (family resource navigator), Stephanie McWhite (food coordinator) and Jess (logistics). Lombardo said shelter operations run three shifts daily to maintain 24/7 coverage.

How to reach the shelter and the food distribution center

Lombardo gave phone and web contact information on-air: for emergency or immediate assistance she provided (856) 825-3144 and said callers may also use the statewide referral line 211 and ask for Cumberland County services. She listed websites for more information and donations during the interview: redevelopmentcorp.org, commonfamilyshelter.com and southernregionalfooddistributioncenter.org, and noted the organization accepts monetary donations via its website as well as clothing and toiletries dropped at the property.

Context and limitations

Lombardo said the family-building renovation was possible because of a HUD-recognized recovery grant coordinated by Vineland and partner municipalities; she did not provide a total project cost on-air. She described funding sources for the food bank as a mix of state budget allocations, grants and donated food, and said the organization is working to retain state funding in upcoming budgets. Lombardo did not provide precise annual operating budgets or a full, current shelter occupancy total beyond the building-level bed counts described on-air.

"None of us can do it alone," Lombardo said near the end of the interview, thanking partner agencies, volunteers and county officials for support. Commissioner Director Jim Sarra, the program host, encouraged viewers to visit the facility and to contact the organization about donations or sponsorships for its annual golf fundraiser, for which Lombardo provided a contact number on-air.