Brick café owner turns $15 meals into a lifeline for the hungry

🍽 Brick café owner launches a pay-it-forward meal program to help neighbors struggling with food insecurity.

❤️ Inspired by SNAP delays, a government shutdown and Jon Bon Jovi’s JBJ Soul Kitchen, the program offers dignity with no questions asked.

🍽 Community generosity has fueled more than 130 donated meals, with plans to support military families next.

BRICK — A compassionate heart. The desire to help the hungry. The importance of a community coming together to help those less fortunate.

That is what inspired the owner of an Ocean County restaurant to start a pay-it-forward program to give back.

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A Brick café turns kindness into action

Ken McCrea, owner of Sandy’s Café, located at 2030 Route 88 in Brick, started the program in December, where generous patrons can purchase a $15 meal ticket.

“We have a ticket that’s on our community board. Another customer could walk in, grab one of those tickets, come to the counter, and basically order anything on the menu with a drink, no questions asked,” McCrea said.

SNAP delays and government shutdown spark the idea

While McCrea has always been community-minded, he said the inspiration behind Sandy’s Café Pay-it-Forward Program was inspired by the recent government shutdown.

When the government was shut down in November, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were suspended and severely delayed for millions of Americans, including over 800,000 New Jersey residents.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ The people who work for the government, living paycheck to paycheck, not getting paid, how are they surviving?” I can’t imagine how people can go without getting paid and just keep going to work,” McCrea said.

If people don’t get their food stamps, they can’t eat, so that’s when he came up with this cool idea.

Inspired by Jon Bon Jovi’s JBJ Soul Kitchen

McCrea was also inspired to help the community after a visit to New Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi’s JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank.

He was not just impressed with the meal program that offers a three-course dinner with no prices, where diners can either pay a suggested donation or volunteer to earn a meal, but McCrea just fell in love with the community center where there’s all kinds of support to help people get back on their feet, from government assistance programs, to employment centers, and more.

McCrea knows what it’s like to survive paycheck-to-paycheck. People often think that if you own a restaurant, you’re rich, but that could not be further from the truth, he said.

Things are always tight and hard.

Community generosity fuels rapid growth

“The community of Brick has been phenomenal. I joined the Chamber of Commerce four years ago, and I have not met one jerk in our community,” McCrea said.

The people of Brick are amazing, and always want to help others, so McCrea was pretty confident that this pay-it-forward program at Sandy’s would do well.

Since starting this program in December, more than 130 people have come forward to buy these $15 meals for others. Some have bought more than one meal.

The program has proven not only to be sustainable as we approach the middle of February, but McCrea says it has exploded with generosity.

“I hope to reach people who are hungry, and let them know that there’s a safe place to come where they are treated with dignity,” McCrea said.

The more people who hear about Sandy’s Pay-It-Forward, the more responses we get, he added.

Looking ahead to more generosity

McCrea doesn’t want to stop helping those in need. In fact, he plans to take some of the proceeds from the pay-it-forward and donate it to the New Jersey Food Warriors program, an initiative of the Military Support Alliance of New Jersey, which actively fights food insecurity among military families at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

Sandy’s Café in Brick is open for breakfast and lunch 7 days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Enjoy Jersey classics like pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwiches, salads, wraps, burgers, and more.

While you’re there, pick up a $15 meal ticket for someone in need.

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