The Hillsborough Community Assistance Network is a volunteer-powered food distribution center putting fresh produce, pantry staples, and dignity on the table for families across our township — every week, no questions asked.
What began as a handful of neighbors packing extra bags from a church basement has grown into a structured distribution center serving hundreds of Hillsborough families each month.
Hillsborough, NJ
The Hillsborough Community Assistance Network — most folks just call us CAN — was built on a simple conviction: nobody in our township should sit down to an empty table. We operate a clean, welcoming distribution center where neighbors can select groceries the way you'd shop a small market — with choice, with respect, and without judgment.
We partner with regional food banks, local farms, grocery rescues, and neighborhood food drives to keep our shelves stocked with the staples families actually cook with — rice, beans, pasta, proteins, baby formula, and a generous produce section that rotates with the season.
Run entirely by volunteers from Hillsborough and the surrounding Somerset County communities, CAN is a place where the person bagging your groceries might also be your kid's soccer coach. That's the point. This is neighbor work.
Drag the handle to see what a single distribution morning looks like at CAN. On the left, the pantry at dawn — bare racks, empty coolers. On the right, the same room two hours later after our volunteer crew sorts the morning delivery.
Before · 6:00 AM
After · 8:30 AM
Racks cleared from the previous day's distribution. Coolers drained. The morning delivery hasn't arrived yet — this is the canvas our volunteers start with, six days a week.
Two hours and a dozen volunteers later: produce washed and binned, dry goods organized by category, dairy and proteins in the cooler, and a fresh rotation of bread on the front table. Ready for neighbors.
Every CAN service is free to neighbors in Hillsborough Township. The figures below represent our average per-visit cost to provide each service — funded by donations, grants, and food-bank partnerships — so you can see exactly what your support underwrites.
All services are free to residents of Hillsborough Township and surrounding Somerset County. "Cost to CAN" reflects our actual expense to provide each service — funded entirely by community donations and grants.
Sign up for a serviceWe're not the biggest food bank in New Jersey, and we don't try to be. We're built for Hillsborough — small enough to know your name, structured enough to be here every week, and stubborn enough to believe dignity is non-negotiable.
Neighbors shop our shelves the way you'd shop a market — selecting the rice, beans, produce, and proteins their household will actually cook with. Choice is dignity, and we protect it.
Roughly half of what we distribute is fresh produce — rescued from farms and grocery partners, sorted by volunteers, and on the table within 48 hours. Pantry staples matter; so does a real piece of fruit.
Every volunteer at CAN lives in or near Hillsborough. The person bagging your groceries might be your kid's coach, your dentist, or the family two doors down. This is local, in the truest sense.
Whether you need groceries this week, want to volunteer a Saturday morning, or have a pantry donation to drop off — we'd rather meet you in person. Use the form to let us know you're coming, or stop by during distribution hours.