How Darlene Trappier lifts up those who have ‘fallen below life’ in her county – and beyond

Darlene Trappier is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.

She was a 19-year-old woman living in a park, hiding behind bushes to muffle the cries of her newborn baby.

Darlene Trappier has known homelessness.

She was a young mother with two mouths to feed and very little money, eating her children's leftover oatmeal and dipping chicken bones in water to trick herself into feeling full.

Darlene Trappier has known hunger.

Her children never knew she was struggling — this is one of a mother's superpowers — and when Trappier's life, also marked by sexual, physical and emotional abuse, began to change for the better, she gave God her word that she would use it to make a difference.

Darlene Trappier has known hope.

"Can you get me out of this situation?" she prayed. "If you do, I promise I will keep my word to not allow anybody ... to feel what I'm feeling."

Years later, "I kept my promise."

Trappier, 62, is the founder of Beacon of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides hundreds of thousands of pounds of food to people in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Every Friday, the group's employees and volunteers distribute bags of dry food — beans, rice, canned goods, spaghetti — plus meat, produce, eggs, butter, bread and pastries to people who line the sidewalk outside their Mount Holly office.

She opened with one apartment refrigerator, one freezer chest and five racks for clothes. Ten years later, the organization has 24 freezers, two 40-foot shipping containers, a 17-foot-U-haul truck and an apartment next door that staff can rent. Beacon of Hope gives out 600,000 to 900,000 pounds of food every year.

"We provide food because people are hungry," said Trappier, who in 2022 was one of 25 people from across the nation chosen to attend the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. "I know what hunger feels like."

And it does not stop there. If someone needs a safe place to sleep, Trappier finds them a motel room and gives them frozen meals to eat. If they need help with medical co-pays, rental assistance, security deposits, utility bills, transportation or funeral expenses, Beacon of Hope is there. In the summer, they provide food to children whose only meals come from school.

Even a monthlong hospitalization due to COVID-19 could not stop Trappier from helping. With IVs in her arms and an oxygen mask on her face, she organized housing placements and directed her staff of 11, all of whom "have been on the other side of the table," she said.

"Everybody here has been in that situation; that's what makes it work," she said. "I call it falling below life; I don't like to say homeless or struggling."

Trappier's promise to give back shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it is picking up speed. In 2023, she plans to move Beacon of Hope from its 786-square-foot home to a three-building property more than 10 times the size. It has room for staff to live, a county COVID-19 quarantine center, a 3,000-square foot storefront for events, a warehouse to provide shelter during cold weather, and temporary housing.

"It is coming together," said Trappier, the New Jersey honoree for USA TODAY's Women of the Year program. "I kept my word."

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell me how your journey of giving back began.

I was working at an insurance company, and I went on a trip and I'd hurt my back while I was there. I was laid up in a hotel room, and the Lord said 'I need to talk with you. Now we can start your pathway of you keeping your promise.' I left that job and opened up a retail store, a dollar store.

I learned to pay attention to the seniors, because from the 21st to the end of the month, they buy a lot of pet food. Why is that? Because they run out of money. But they're not buying for pets the first 20 days of the month.

I put out a pad and I would tell them, 'Put down what you would like to see at the store.' I created a wishlist (for) anything else that they needed; most of it was corned beef, tuna fish, canned chicken, Vienna sausage, sardines, crackers. The night of the 20th, we would put it on the shelves. I gave them $10, so they had a $10 credit. Sometimes they came and paid it back, sometimes they didn't. But I never asked them for it back.

That was me starting to keep my promise.

Who inspires you in your work?

My children are the reason why I do what I do, because I want them to understand that life is not always fair. But as long as you put your all into it and you keep your word — you can sign a contract, but your word is your bond, and that's one of the things that inspired me to do what I do.

What has been your proudest moment?

When I opened up my retail store, and that allowed me to be able to help other people. We sold food items, but at the same time, we were able to take care of other people.

Is there a principal or a mantra that you have for yourself?

"It may be hard, but hard is easier than impossible." We do this by showing the families and individuals that you can rise back above your situations and your circumstances. Just because life kicked you, you can kick it back by doing something good for yourself, and also doing something good for somebody else. And that's what we do.

What keeps me going is my faith in God, my children, and the staff here that constantly encourage me to keep moving forward, because we have a responsibility to ensure that people who have fallen below life have the opportunity to rise back up.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Look inward to yourself. Don't always depend on other people. You have to make it for you. You have to strengthen yourself, grow a second skin and realize life is not always going to be kind to you. But you have to be kind to yourself. You have to let yourself know that "I didn't make it today, but tomorrow's another opportunity to change the mistakes of yesterday."

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• Women of the Century: Whitney Houston, Meryl Streep and Queen Latifah among inspiring women on New Jersey list

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Beacon of Hope founder honored by USA TODAY for work fighting hunger