Jon Rowe joined the nation’s war against terrorism upon graduating college in 2008. He served for six years in the U.S. Navy, including two tours in Afghanistan.
He transitioned to civilian life in 2014, and after working for Wayfair, Amazon and Clutter, Rowe joined New Jersey’s war against hunger. He became the Vice President of Operations for Fulfill, the Monmouth and Ocean County food bank in 2022.
“I was employed by Clutter and things were going well, but I thought the non-profit aspect of Fulfill was appealing,” he said. “The chance to use your skills and talents for a charitable purpose – there is something more to it when you use your talent to achieve what we achieve at Fulfill.”
Fulfill is part of Feeding America, a Chicago-based nationwide non-profit network of 200 food banks and pantries. In New Jersey, it has a main operations center in Neptune and a satellite operation in Toms River.
“When you are part of the Feeding America network, you have a defined area,” he said. “Ours is Ocean and Monmouth Counties.”
The facility in Toms River does more than distribute food. It houses a resource connections group which helps their clients reach out to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), the government program which provides food benefits to low-income families.
The Toms River location also features a job training program and a culinary arts program where participants can eventually get internships.
In 2024, Fulfill collected and distributed 17.1 million pounds of food which converts to 14.1 million meals. More important to Rowe is the quality of the food distributed.
“We care about the quantity of food but equally important is the makeup of the food. Our goal is to have 61 percent of the food be protein, dairy or produce,” Rowe said. “In 2024, we did 67 percent.”
Fulfill supports a network of almost 300 food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, smaller distributions sites such as mobile pantries, school agencies and after school programs and summer camps.
Included in the support network is the American Legion which distributes food to active-duty and veterans. Its culinary arts program also prepares meals delivered to veterans’ homes.
Rowe’s responsibilities as VP of Operations are wide-ranging. He is responsible for procuring food for Fulfill, primarily from three sources – food contributions, monetary contributions and government supply products.
Rowe is also responsible for facility management and maintenance, and he oversees the food warehousing and distribution activity.
Finally, part of Rowe’s responsibilities is to look ahead.
“We have ambitious goals to increase the amount of product donated,” he said. “We want to grow those donors through education and new channels. We are also looking at warehouse expansion and we want to improve our reach. Ocean and Monmouth are large areas. We are looking to better reach southern Ocean and eastern Monmouth counties.”
Rowe says he applies to his job much of what he learned in military service.
During his two tours in Afghanistan, Rowe worked in an Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit of the navy which was attached to various army units. The purpose of his team was to diffuse explosives such as land mines and improvised explosives devices (IEDs).
“You learn how to finish things, no matter what the obstacles,” he said. “You learn about resilience, and you learn how to train and develop people – people from all walks of life. You learn how to build a team. You don’t always get to pick your team, so you have to find ways to get things done.”
About his Fulfill team, he says “I am blessed to have a great team. They all known their potion of the mission and they make the work happen.”
