Here is what your partnership made possible in FY26
59,499food pantry visits, deliveries, and mobile pantry visits helped feed local families, a 24% increase over FY25.
185households received rental, utility, or security deposit assistance, helping them obtain or maintain stable housing.
94homeless families with children in the Trenton School system received emergency assistance through Parent Connect, supporting 141 children.
35single mothers were active members of Still Standing, across two cohorts including a new group with the Trenton Housing Authority.
115of our most vulnerable neighbors received consistent, dignified support through Representative Payee services, helping manage their Social Security benefits so rent and other essential bills were paid.
14clients had their driver's licenses restored through License to Succeed, opening the door to better-paying jobs.
$2.15M+in direct aid distributed across Mercer County, ensuring families had food on their tables and a safe, stable place to live.
~3,500volunteers, about 300 a month: individuals, faith communities, corporate partners, and community groups working arm-in-arm with us to help serve our neighbors.
We also advanced major operational goals this year: putting our FEEDNJ grant to work to reach even more families in the food deserts of East and West Trenton, strengthening our team through strategic staffing adjustments, and completing the renovation of our Hudson Pantry, now evolving into a true service hub.
When SNAP benefits were disrupted in November, we responded quickly: extending pantry hours, launching an emergency appeal, and adjusting our budget mid-year to increase direct aid. Because of the generosity and support of our community and partners like you, we were able to keep pace with the surge in need.
We also recognize the challenges that remain: as the cost of living rises, more neighbors face food insecurity and housing instability, and demand for emergency assistance continues to grow. Thank you for working arm-in-arm with us to meet this moment, together.
Food insecurity and housing instability rarely exist in isolation, and neither do our services. A family might first meet us at the pantry before becoming connected to one of our other programs or services. The programs below aren't separate doors to stability; they are one household's path through Arm In Arm's doors.
Hunger Prevention
Meeting rising need with compassion and purpose
Our food pantries continue to meet rising need. Mercer County's food insecurity rate now stands at 11.1%, meaning more than 43,000 of our neighbors struggle to access enough nutritious food. This year, our Hunger Prevention program reached more than 18,000 of those residents, roughly 41% of the food-insecure people across the county.
Pantry visits & deliveries
Including Mobile Pantry and home delivery
FY25
48,010
FY26
59,499
We made real progress meeting families where they are. After hearing from clients who couldn't visit our Trenton pantry during the week, and with the support of Mercer County's Office of Food Security Innovation Grant, we expanded to one Saturday a month at 48 Hudson Street in Trenton. What began as 11 families on our first Saturday has risen to approximately 100-120 families regularly. That is proof that when we remove barriers, we meet families where they are, and they show up.
Arm In Arm 48 Hudson Street Pantry and Hub
With support of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's FEEDNJ grant, renovations at our Hudson Pantry are complete and we are now offering clients greater choice: letting families select the foods that best fit their nutritional needs and cultural preferences, preserving dignity and reducing waste. Moving forward, our Hudson Pantry is evolving into a true service hub where partner organizations will provide support for families under one roof. As clients receive food, they might also get information on benefits like WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid, learn how to reduce their home energy costs, or access preventative health screenings. Connecting to these resources helps move families toward lasting household stability.
Our Mobile Pantry footprint has grown substantially as well: we piloted new monthly sites at the Hamilton Public Library, Light of the World Church in Hamilton, and the Trenton Housing Authority on Willow Street, in the food desert neighborhood of East Trenton. All are now part of our regular monthly schedule. Our bulk "bag drop" service, which delivers directly to schools, subsidized housing complexes, and partner sites across the county, grew from about 450 to 700 bags each month, now reaching 12 partner locations.
Pantry locations throughout Mercer County
We are also proud to be piloting something new alongside our long-standing partnership with Capital Health. Thanks to a grant from The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, we are delivering renal-diet appropriate food bags to low-income dialysis patients, with Capital Health helping us track the health benefits through client feedback. It's a small, targeted step toward food as a genuine part of care, not just a stopgap.
The power of community
Behind every pantry visit is a community showing up. The groups below are just a few of the many that help us day in and day out.
Yes We CAN! brings a full-circle effort to helping our neighbors access fresh produce. Volunteers collect donations from visitors at the West Windsor Community Farmers Market and the Princeton Farmers Market, use those dollars to buy fresh produce directly from the farmers, and bring it back to neighbors at our pantries. They also collect at supermarkets, and together these efforts bring in more than 40,000 pounds of food each year. They have been making a difference for our neighbors for more than 18 years.
Many faithful individuals volunteer regularly, bringing their hearts and hands day-in and day-out, ensuring our neighbors are served hope, as well as food. Students from TCNJ, Rider, and Princeton volunteer at our pantries throughout the school year, and many provide bilingual support at intake, helping families feel welcome from the first moment. As well, several volunteer groups keep us running month after month: Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church serves at our Mobile Pantry once a month, Eden Autism restocks shelves at the Hudson Pantry, Bank of America volunteers one Tuesday a month at our downtown Trenton Mobile Pantry, and the Bristol Myers Squibb Organization for Latin Achievement (OLA) lends a hand throughout the year, alongside the individuals who give their time week after week.
None of this would be possible without our community of volunteers, donors, community partners, faith communities, corporations, and educational institutions. When people work together, they help neighbors put food on the table and keep Arm In Arm strong.
A note from a family we serve
We are a military family of four who recently began receiving services from Arm In Arm. We moved to New Jersey because of my husband's military orders, and I lost my job because of the move. At the same time, we've been navigating a new diagnosis for our son and don't qualify for SNAP. There are days we've had to stretch what little we have until the next paycheck.
The day we visited the pantry, we had $30 left in our account. The fresh fruits and vegetables and groceries we brought home weren't just food. They were relief, and the feeling that someone cared about our family when we needed it most. Days later, with only $4 left until payday, I was able to make my family a hearty chicken soup from what we'd received.
This has been a humbling season, but Arm In Arm reminded me we are not alone. What may feel like a simple bag of groceries to someone can mean an entire meal, a little less stress, and a whole lot of hope to a family like ours.
Arm In Arm client
Housing Stability
Stepping in earlier, before a crisis becomes homelessness
The story in housing has again been one of increased need. Our team fielded 250+ calls a month from neighbors seeking housing assistance and provided case management or financial assistance to more than 260 households this year: 185 of them through direct rental, utility, or security deposit aid. Our case managers see firsthand how a single financial setback, such as a medical bill, a car repair, or reduced hours at work, can push a working family toward eviction. Public funding alone can't reach every family in time, and many families do not qualify for public assistance, making too much to qualify but not enough to make ends meet or weather a crisis. Private support lets us step in earlier, before a crisis becomes homelessness, which matters, since the state's own data shows eviction accounts for a quarter of people who return to homelessness after being placed in permanent housing.
Our Parent Connect Program, in partnership with the Trenton Board of Education, puts our continuum of programs and services into practice: we provide crisis intervention and wraparound services to homeless families with children in Trenton Public Schools, reaching more than half of the district's homeless student population. This year, that meant emergency assistance and case management for 94 families and 141 children. For many of them, Parent Connect was just the entry point. From there, families can move seamlessly into our other programming; for some it might mean rental, utility or security deposit assistance and for others Still Standing mentorship or Financial Fitness workshops. We meet families where they are and while that path looks different for every family, our years of experience and connections with other providers of critical services offer families the best chance for stability.
Financial literacy is essential for economic mobility and remains central to our model. We ran two Financial Fitness workshop series this year, including a new 2.0 cohort, reaching 20 participants who paid off debt, improved credit scores, and one client purchased their first home. We improved engagement and participation by adding a rental incentive for clients completing the full series. Ninety percent of participants rated the content as excellent, and 100% agreed the program was relevant to their needs.
This year we co-sponsored two Tenants Rights workshops with the Trenton Board of Education and a third one with Princeton Human Services, at which Legal Services of New Jersey and the Community Health Law Project provided information and education to approximately 50 community members.
Our Representative Payee Program continued providing critical stability for 115 of our most vulnerable neighbors, who, for a variety of reasons, need assistance managing their Social Security benefits. By making sure rent and other essential bills were paid, the program helped them remain safely housed.
Our Still Standing program for single mothers, supported by The Fund for Women and Girls of the Princeton Area Community Foundation, grew significantly this year, now serving 35 active members across two cohorts, including a new group launched in partnership with the Trenton Housing Authority. Members receive 1:1 mentorship from our Program Coordinator, as well as connection to financial literacy education and mental health resources, and group activities to foster community. This year, we celebrated a major milestone. After completing our new advanced financial literacy workshop series, one of our Still Standing members qualified for a mortgage and is one step closer to achieving her dream of home ownership.
Still Standing mothers and children on a recent outing to the Camden Aquarium.
In our most recent outcomes study, 86% of housing clients remained stably housed, and 72% had been in their home for more than two years.
Anthony's story
Anthony and his eight-year-old son, Tyler, were living in a motel when they first came to Arm In Arm. While Anthony was working and doing everything he could to find a permanent home for his family, their motel room cost more than $1,700 a month, leaving little opportunity to save toward an apartment of his own. Through Parent Connect, Arm In Arm provided Anthony and Tyler with emergency assistance and case management while Anthony worked toward finding stable housing.
Then Anthony found an apartment he could afford, but after months of paying motel prices, coming up with a security deposit felt impossible.
That's where our Housing Stability program stepped in. With private funding, Arm In Arm provided the security deposit, and Anthony and Tyler made the move from a motel room into a home of their own.
License to Succeed
A valid license changes the narrative
According to the Fines and Fees Justice Center, among people surveyed who had court debt, driver's license suspension was associated with 2.15 times greater odds of unemployment. We see this daily in our work: a valid driver's license changes the narrative for our clients. It opens the door to higher-paying employment and a path toward financial security. This year, we helped 14 individuals restore their licenses by paying off tickets, fines, and surcharges and preparing them for required exams. Arm In Arm remains the only nonprofit in Mercer County providing this service. More than 60% of the clients we serve are formerly incarcerated, and most are single parents. As they gain access to better economic opportunities, their children benefit too.
Raymond's story
When Raymond contacted us, he had been without a driver's license for 15 years. He worked as a supervisor at a shipping facility that public transportation doesn't reach, and he was spending more than $40 a day on ride-sharing to get there. He owed nearly $8,000 in tickets, fines, and surcharges that had built up over more than a decade. He chipped away at the balance, and with support from our Program Coordinator, he scheduled and passed his required exams. Arm In Arm provided $1,000 to clear what remained, and Raymond now feels secure in his job and in control of his budget.
Our partnerships, deepened
Capital Health
Our Mobile Pantry now visits Capital Health sites four times each month, and this year alone we saw 2,000 more visits than the year before. Capital Health staff offer nutritional information, vaccination clinics, blood pressure screenings, and blood sugar checks alongside our food: care and food, together. It's also the partnership behind our new dialysis food-bag pilot, and behind twice-yearly "baby shower" grocery events for low-income pregnant mothers.
Housing Initiatives of Princeton & the Princeton Area Community Foundation
Our multi-year collaboration with Housing Initiatives of Princeton, funded by the Princeton Area Community Foundation's Community Impact grant, means clients don't have to visit multiple agencies to get the funding they need to stay housed, one of the clearest examples of what private, flexible funding makes possible. This year we helped 25 families remain safely housed, including 35 children.
Mercer Street Friends and our county partners
Mercer Street Friends continues to be a vital source of food support, and our work alongside our fellow members of the Mercer County Food Security Leaders coalition ensures Mercer County's families are met with a coordinated safety net, not a fragmented one. Continued efforts to align our county priorities with those of the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate help ensure we take an equitable, innovative, and data-informed approach to food insecurity.
Bringing resources directly to our pantry
We have long welcomed community partners at our pantries and mobile sites to offer our neighbors access to deeper resources. Our new Hudson Pantry Hub gives us the opportunity to bring even more resources and services under one roof. The list is long and includes: SNAP benefits navigators; Humana; Mercer County Office of Emergency Management; Capital Health; Kindersmile; Mercer County Board of Social Services; LALDEF; iRise; Credit Union of New Jersey; and more.
Organizational news
New voices on our Board
We were thrilled to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors this year: Brian Smith of Johnson & Johnson, and David Pettit, who returns to Arm In Arm having previously served as Board Chair during our years as The Crisis Ministry, a wonderful full-circle addition as we look toward our 50th anniversary.
New staff
Kimberly Mendez joined the Hunger Prevention Team as our Operations Specialist, a newly created position to help us manage the many operational challenges we face daily in Hunger Prevention, as well as helping us to engage our volunteer community. We also welcomed Karly Mendoza to our Housing Team as Manager of our Community Services Block Grant; Erin Hartshorn as Director of Development and Communications; Luke Orlando as Hunger Prevention Assistant; and Lorraine McNichol as Representative Payee Assistant.
Our best benefit yet
Our spring benefit was the strongest in Arm In Arm's history, honoring Johnson & Johnson alongside two Board members, Liz Koehler and Sallye Zink, for their years of dedication to our mission. Thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating.
Looking ahead
A stronger strategic foundation
Our Board and leadership team have just kicked off a strategic planning and visioning process to develop a plan that will shape our next three to five years of impact, programmatic investment, and growth.
Meeting rising need
As government support becomes less certain, the importance of private funding has never been greater. We are budgeting to distribute $1.7 million in direct food aid in FY27 to meet continued demand, and more than $2.1 million organization wide. Our priorities for the year ahead include deepening the integration of our hunger and housing services, expanding client choice through the Hudson Pantry renovation, and continuing to build pathways to long-term financial stability for the families who count on us.
None of this, not the families fed, the homes kept, the licenses restored, the mothers standing a little steadier, would have been possible without you. We have accomplished so much together, and there is still more to do. But with your partnership, we will continue moving forward with purpose and hope. Thank you. We are better together.
