Assembly Bill A5442 would reduce a $350,000 state grant for the Eid Committee of New Jersey to $50,000 and redirect the remaining $300,000 to Mom’s Food Pantry in Bergen County.
TRENTON, NJ — New Jersey lawmakers are moving to take $300,000 from a state grant awarded to the Eid Committee of New Jersey and redirect the money to a Bergen County food pantry, just months after the organization received a substantially larger appropriation in the Fiscal Year 2027 state budget.
Assembly Bill A5442, sponsored by Assemblywoman Shama Haider, D-Bergen, was introduced Sept. 17 and advanced out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee the same day on an 11-3 vote, with one member not voting. It is now on second reading in the Assembly.
“The Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations act currently allocates $350,000 to the Eid Committee of New Jersey for a community engagement initiative,” the committee said in its formal statement.
“This bill reassigns $300,000 from this appropriation to the Cultural Society of Bergen, which is a non-profit organization that supports families in need by providing essential groceries and basic household necessities,” lawmakers said. “These funds are provided to support the organization’s Mom’s Food Pantry.”
The transfer would leave the Eid Committee with $50,000 of its original $350,000 allocation.
Bill Does Not Explain Why $300,000 Is Being Taken Back
The legislation spells out where the money would go but does not explain why lawmakers decided to substantially reduce the Eid Committee appropriation after approving it as part of the FY2027 budget.
“This bill does not alter the total amount appropriated for Fiscal Year 2027,” the Appropriations Committee said.
In other words, A5442 does not add $300,000 in new New Jersey spending. It moves already appropriated money from one nonprofit organization to another.
Eid Committee Grant Had Grown From $50,000 to $350,000
The proposed transfer is more notable when viewed against the Eid Committee’s recent history of state funding.
New Jersey’s FY2025 appropriations act included $50,000 for the Eid Committee of New Jersey’s “Community Engagement Initiative.”
The FY2027 budget increased that earmark to $350,000, a sevenfold increase from the FY2025 appropriation. State budget documents list the money specifically as “Eid Committee of New Jersey – Community Engagement Initiative.”
A5442 would effectively return the organization to that earlier $50,000 funding level by transferring the other $300,000 elsewhere.
What Is the Eid Committee of New Jersey?
The Eid Committee of New Jersey describes itself as an organization established roughly two decades ago with the goal of “Bringing Communities Together.”
The organization says it began in 2004 by coordinating a congregational Eid prayer involving several North Jersey mosques and later expanded into Eid prayers, Ramadan iftars and interfaith events.
In describing its history, the group says it has organized more than 40 large Eid prayers and more than 20 grand iftar events.
The Eid Committee also organized a major Eid prayer gathering at MetLife Stadium in 2019, which the organization says drew more than 50,000 Muslims from New Jersey and surrounding states. The group says it became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2023.
Eid itself refers to major celebrations on the Islamic calendar, including Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha.
The organization has also been involved with crescent-lighting ceremonies and other community events in Bergen County and elsewhere in northern New Jersey.
Mom’s Food Pantry Has Also Received State Funding Before
The organization receiving the proposed $300,000 transfer is not new to the New Jersey state budget either.
The Cultural Society of Bergen County’s Mom’s Food Pantry received $50,000 in the FY2025 state budget.
That allocation doubled to $100,000 for FY2026, according to the state’s enacted appropriations act.
The FY2026 appropriations law lists the money under state food and nutrition grants as “Cultural Society of Bergen County – Mom’s Food Pantry.”
A tax filing from the Community FoodBank of New Jersey also identifies Mom’s Food Pantry at 7 West Main Street in Bergenfield and records more than $76,000 in donated food provided to the pantry during the reported fiscal year.
The Assembly committee described the Cultural Society of Bergen County as an organization that “supports families in need by providing essential groceries and basic household necessities.”
Vote Drew Three Republican Opponents
A5442 cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee by an 11-3 vote.
Ten Democrats and one Republican voted to advance the bill. Republican Assemblymen Antwan McClellan, Gregory Myhre and Jay Webber voted against it, while Democratic Assemblywoman Tennille McCoy did not vote.
Republican Assemblyman Robert Auth joined Democrats in voting for the measure.
The committee statement does not include comments from the three lawmakers who opposed the bill, and the legislative record reviewed by Shore News Network does not specify their reasons for voting no.
$300,000 Transfer Now Heads Deeper Into Legislature
The bill is part of a broader stream of midyear changes lawmakers can make to an already enacted state budget when they decide an appropriation should be changed, redirected or supplemented.
Because the total appropriation would remain unchanged, the measure is fundamentally a reallocation: $300,000 would disappear from one nonprofit’s state grant and reappear as additional support for another.
If A5442 becomes law, Mom’s Food Pantry would receive the additional $300,000 while the Eid Committee’s FY2027 Community Engagement Initiative would be reduced to $50,000.
The bill must still complete the legislative process before the funding change can take effect.
For now, the legislation leaves one central question unanswered in its public record: why lawmakers approved a $350,000 Community Engagement Initiative for the Eid Committee in the FY2027 budget, then moved months later to take nearly 86% of that allocation and direct it to a food pantry.