US Sen. Cory Booker records a selfie Instagram reel with owner Ritesh Shah and family during his visit to Charitable Pharmacy. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Since he hit the road last week, US Senator Cory Booker’s annual 21-county summer road trip of New Jersey has taken him to a classic Jersey diner, a peach farm run by the same family since the 1680’s and a swearing-in ceremony for three dozen US Citizens.
But it was Sunday’s visit to Red Bank where he said, “I don’t think there’s going to be a stop that is more inspiring than this stop here today.”
Ritesh Shah Charitable Pharmacy (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
Booker’s remarks came as he stood inside the Ritesh Shah Charitable Pharmacy at 224 Shrewsbury Avenue, opened in April 2022 as the first free-medication pharmacy in the state.
The shop provides prescribed drugs to uninsured customers whose yearly earnings are no more than three times the federal poverty guidelines of $12,880 for an individual and $26,500 for a family of four.
“For me, this is not a facility. It’s a beacon of hope,” founder and owner Ritesh Shah said during Booker’s visit.
Shah started the pharmacy as a way to honor his sister who died of complications from Covid-19. Booker said he was compelled to visit both by Shah’s personal story and the way his work underscores the huge gaps in the nation’s health care system.
“What moved me most about this is that it did come from a place of personal pain and struggle and hurt,” Booker said. Â “But the ability to have that sort of sacred alchemy to change the darkness and the hurt into help and love and light is extraordinary.”
Since opening, Charitable Pharmacy says it has provided $745,000 worth of medication to more than 277 patients in need.
As he traveled the country during his unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Booker said people consistently told him how they skipped or rationed medications because they could not afford them. One man rationing his psychiatric medication had an episode that caused him to lose his job and left him destitute.
“These are the stories that should not happen in our country,” he said. “And many of us talk about trying to solve them or try to work on solving them. You, for a community of people, you are solving them.”
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at  [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
