Chatham, Mendham Teens Deliver 2 Tons of Food

On Tuesday, June 3, Tim Lonergan of and Brendan Lewis of Mendham High School delivered over 2.5 tons, or $10,320 of donated food to The Salvation Army, .

Lonergan and Lewis, two friends from rival high schools, . They tracked donations using YouGiveGoods.com, a website based in Mendham that facilitates charity drives. Lonergan's mother, Mary, is the director of strategic partnerships for YouGiveGoods.com. The website recently launched a Food Drive Contest feature, which the boys found ideal in tracking which community donated the most food.

Each had a goal of raising $2,500 in food. As Lonergan's efforts paid off, he increased his goal to $4,000, then to $6,500 in goods. Lewis also raised his goal.

When the contest closed on June 22, Lonergan had raised $6,423 in donations for the Morristown Corps of the Salvation Army and Lewis had collected $3,730 in donated food for the Salvation Army's Dover Corps.

Chatham Patch and Mendham Patch also got involved by donating one can of food for everyone who . Donations from each Patch were not counted until June 29, at which point the totals for Lonergan and Lewis raised to $6,473 and $3,847, respectively, for a total of $10,320.

Together, it was well over two tons of food. Lewis said part of why the boys chose to go through YouGiveGoods.com was because they include delivery service. "I didn’t have to ask my mom or dad to drive me around to pick up the food to make the delivery. And all that food wouldn’t have fit in my parents car anyway,” Lewis said.

Lewis was onsite to meet the YouGiveGoods truck when it arrived at the Dover Corps. "I helped to unload some of the food and met some of the people working at the Salvation Army,” he said.

Lonergan, too, helped to unload  food at the Morristown Corps. He set up a donation box for food at Chatham High, and had to ask his parents to help him deliver the food collected that way.

However, he said, about 95 percent of donated food came through the YouGiveGoods website. I think people find it a lot easier to donate that way. I like it because I can thank everyone who donated online. I have no idea who put the food in the box at school, so I have no way to thank them,” Lonergan said.

Brenda Beavers, the New Jersey divisional director of Human Services for the Salvation Army, said she was "thrilled to see such tremendous support from both of these communities.  Summer is always tough for us.  This food will give the Morristown Corps and the Dover Corps a big boost.”

During the summer, Beavers said, some families are unable to fill their pantries during the summer, "when kids are not in school to get their one hot meal a day."

According to a press release from YouGiveGoods, the boys are already contemplating a rematch.

“A lot of people have contributed to our drives and we’ve had some nice things written about what we are doing. I think it’s helping to create more awareness that there are hungry people here in Morris County,”  Lonergan said.

You can check out Brendan’s drive in support of the Salvation Army—Dover Corps.

And you can check out Tim’s drive in support of the Salvation Army—Morristown Corps.

Or view the Scoreboard to see how the two measured up.