^{Description: Tanya Veltz, Founder and Director of Tree House Cares / Photo credit: Tree House Cares}

In Essex County, New Jersey, home delivery is more than a convenience. It is a lifeline for neighbors facing barriers to food access.

For Tanya Veltz, helping others is not just part of her work. It is how she lives her life.

“I wake up in the morning, and the first thought is how can I help somebody today?” she says. “It’s what I eat, sleep, and breathe. Helping people.”

That mindset shapes everything about Tree House Cares, the Newark-based organization she co-founded with her husband in 2017. But long before it had a name, the work had already begun.

Tanya describes herself and her husband as “good people who were struggling.” They faced job loss, food insecurity, and moments where making ends meet felt out of reach. Still, even during those times, they showed up for others. Raising their children in Newark, they became what she calls “neighborhood parents,” opening their doors, sharing what they had, and supporting community members.

That instinct to care for others, even while navigating challenges of their own, became the foundation for something much bigger.

Building a Village in Newark

Today, that foundation has grown into a wide-reaching community effort across Essex County.

Tree House Cares serves hundreds of families each week through its Newark-based food pantry, where between 600 and 800 people show up on a typical Saturday. Each week, the organization distributes tens of thousands of pounds of food sourced through partnerships with the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and supplemented through food rescue efforts led by Tanya and her husband.

But Tree House Cares is not just a food pantry. It is a diaper bank, a source of toiletries and essential supplies, a community hub that responds to urgent needs, from families impacted by fires to communities affected by disasters abroad. It is also a place where people can learn. Through community gardens and what Tanya calls “tender gardens,” families are taught how to grow fresh, healthy food in small urban spaces, even inside their homes using simple, upcycled containers.

At its core, Tree House Cares operates on a simple principle: Do whatever it takes to help someone.

There is no large staff or formal infrastructure. The work is powered by Tanya, her husband, and a small group of dedicated volunteers who step in wherever they are needed. The approach is flexible, personal, and rooted in solving problems for people.

And when it comes to food, Tanya allows community members to receive a generous volume and prioritizes offering fresh, nutritious options whenever possible. She takes it further by listening and learning so she can understand what people actually need. For some, that means understanding what is possible in their home, whether they have a way to cook, space to store food, or the ability to prepare it. For others, that means recognizing they simply cannot get out of their homes, whether it’s because they are elderly, living with a disability, or don’t have a way to get to a pantry.

It is never just about giving food. It is about making sure it works for the person receiving it.

‍Reaching Those Who Can’t Reach the Pantry

Every week, the food pantry at Tree House Cares serves hundreds of people. As Tanya puts it, “the only complaint we receive is the long lines.”

But for her, the more urgent concern is for the people who are not in line at all. Seniors who are afraid to leave their homes in case they fall. Individuals living with physical or mental disabilities who cannot stand in long lines or travel to a pantry. Households without reliable transportation, where even a short trip becomes a major obstacle. 

When she thinks about home delivery, she is thinking about those individuals first. 

Responding to that reality takes constant, hands-on effort. Several days each week, Tanya and her husband are already on the road in a 16-foot box truck, picking up food from multiple locations on tight schedules. They move between loading docks, coordinate with distributors, and rescue food that would otherwise go to waste, bringing it back to the pantry to serve hundreds of people at a time. But getting food to someone’s doorstep is a different kind of operation.

Before a single home delivery can be made, food has to be sorted, packed, and assigned. Boxes must be sourced, often through upcycling, labeled, and organized for specific households. Every step adds time, coordination, and labor to an already full workload.

Tree House Cares has done home delivery before, but only under extraordinary circumstances. During the pandemic, they partnered with restaurants and a large network of volunteers to distribute meals at scale. It worked because many people across sectors were stepping in to solve urgent problems at once.

Outside of that moment, sustaining home delivery alongside everything else they provide is not something they can do alone.

Expanding the Village

That is where partnerships play an essential role.

By working with Food Connect, Tree House Cares is able to reach people directly in their homes and at local senior recreation centers, where older adults can receive groceries in a place they already go to and trust. Food Connect handles the delivery of fresh, nutritious food and supports Tanya’s goals of reaching those who cannot make it to their pantry.

When Tree House Cares introduced home delivery, the response was immediate. After posting a flyer announcing home delivery on their Facebook page, Tanya quickly heard from over 150 people seeking support, with a waitlist that continues to grow.

The impact shows up in the calls Tanya gets after a delivery is made. People tell her their fridge is full, share photos of meals they were able to cook and let her know the driver was kind, patient, and took the time to make sure everything was right.

“It really means something,” she says. “These are people who couldn’t get to us any other way.”

For Tanya, Food Connect’s service does more than move food. It creates space. With help coordinating deliveries, she and her team can focus on what they do best, responding to individual needs of their community members.

That flexibility is central to how Tree House Cares operates. Whether it is helping a senior get access to food or coordinating supplies for someone in crisis, the approach remains the same: Do whatever it takes.

Meeting the Need Ahead

The need for home delivery continues to grow.

Each day, Tanya hears from more people who cannot get to a pantry but still need support. It is a gap she has long been aware of and one she is determined to keep addressing. Her vision is to continue expanding home delivery, reaching more households, and making it a reliable option for those who need it most.

Through its partnership with Food Connect, Tree House Cares has been able to take meaningful steps toward that goal. The results demonstrate what’s possible when an understanding of people’s day-to-day barriers is paired with the ability to move food where it is needed most, helping extend the reach of a village already built on care, trust, and action.

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This story was developed with input and permission from Tanya Veltz, Founder and Director of Tree House Entertainment Cultural Arts Movement (DBA Tree House Cares)