George Legette, left, a Second Baptist Church food pantry driver, takes a case of fresh produce from Ian Bell, a Rolling Harvest Food Rescue volunteer, during an emergency pop-up food distribution at Solebury Orchards, in Solebury Township, on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. [photo credit: Michele C. Haddon / Photojournalist]
Story by Marion Callahan, Bucks County Courier Times [link to story]
This past Thanksgiving, food pantry manager Kizzy Wright saw a sight she’s never witnessed.
“Our line was out the door. We’ve never experienced that demand — ever,” said Wright, who continues to see a surge in families turning to Bread of Life Community Pantry in Bristol for food.
The coronavirus has been the perfect storm for Bucks County neighbors trying to make ends meet. Facing job losses and unpaid bills, families who are feeling the economic fallout don’t have the money to pay for groceries. Spikes in homelessness have also created more demand at Bucks County food pantries.
“This pandemic has spared no ZIP code, almost no household,” said Cathy Snyder, founder and executive director of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue. She said food pantries in the region are experiencing a 40% hike in the number of families turning to them for help, and “many of them up until very recently were living very comfortable middle-class lives.
Jay Quilty, left, volunteer driver with Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, and Jamie McKnight, program and development director, load cases of whole cooked turkeys into a van during an emergency pop-up food distribution. [photo credit: Michele C. Haddon / Photojournalist]
Pantry managers, however, can’t fight hunger alone. Fortunately, Snyder said: “With a collaborative community response to hunger, they don’t have to.”
On Tuesday, pantry managers from across the region and from church ministries across the county headed to Solebury Orchards in Solebury to pick up crates of fresh vegetables, turkeys and toiletries provided during a food distribution pop-up event sponsored by Rolling Harvest Food Rescue and United Way of Bucks County.
Businesses including McCaffrey’s Market, Traugers Family Farm, Pennypack Farm and North American Produce Co. also pitched in, donating thousands of dollars in food and produce to help neighbors in need.
Wright said needs are greater than ever. Pantries had pivoted to deliver food to many elderly residents who are unable to venture out, she said. With kids home, mothers are unable to provide enough food for their household. After her trip to Solebury to load up on fresh produce and turkeys, Wright said the fresh donations will make a big difference to families in Bristol, she said.
“When you have an opportunity to get real good fresh vegetables, it’s amazing,” said Wright. “We don’t want to just give out pasta, sauce or junk. We want to give out good food.”
Mike Cerino, left, Warminster Food Bank president, Brian Dempsey, center, Lester Bahrt Food Bank co-director, and Ian Bell, a Rolling Harvest Food Rescue volunteer, carry cases of fresh produce. [photo credit: Michele C. Haddon / Photojournalist]
Loading boxes of Brussels sprouts and peppers into the bed of his pick up truck, Brian Dempsey, of Lester Barht Food Pantry in Fairless Hills, said the donations will bring a great deal of joy to those relying on donations for meals. “We take care of 350 to 450 a month from our pantry,” he said.
Looking at the flurry of activity, Snyder watched as volunteers loaded crates onto trucks and vans coming from all corners of the county. She lauded the generosity of businesses and groups that made the food pop-up possible.
Tuesday’s pop-up food event was made possible by a $5,000 COVID-19 Recovery Fund grant provided by United Way of Bucks County to Rolling Harvest, which purchased food for emergency feeding programs for pantries in Bucks County.
In total, with donations from McCaffrey’s Food Markets, area groups distributed $20,000 worth of whole cooked smoked Lancaster Farm turkeys. Rolling Harvest also provided pantries with Solebury Orchards apples and a variety of fresh seasonal produce gleaned from local Bucks County farms.
Snyder praised McCaffrey’s, a Bucks County-based supermarket, for donating its surplus of cooked turkeys and credited Solebury Orchards for offering storage space and a site for pick up and distribution of the food.
“Traugers Family Farm and Pennypack Farm went into the fields and harvested this — just for us,” she said. “It’s more important than ever that social service and nonprofit organizations join forces to accomplish solutions to a problem whose scale is well beyond the scope of one individual organization.”
Ian Bell, a Rolling Harvest Food Rescue volunteer, unloads cases of turnips and sweet potatoes from Trauger’s Farm during an emergency pop-up food distribution at Solebury Orchards, in Solebury Township, on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. [photo credit: Michele C. Haddon / Photojournalist]
Snyder said people are heading into the new year with even more uncertainty about their jobs, housing, and health. “The hardest hit seem to be those with children, and our neighbors from predominantly African-American and Latino communities,” she said.
Tim Philpot, the Bucks County United Way’s director of Financial Stability and Health, said that with support from Penn Community Bank, the United Way of Bucks County launched the Bucks County COVID-19 Recovery Fund in March to help area nonprofits meet their clients’ COVID related needs.
Initially, he said, basic needs like food, shelter, and PPE were primary targets. Since it began, the Recovery Fund has provided over $395,000 in the form of 76 grants to agencies in Bucks County, he said.
“We’re so pleased that Rolling Harvest was able to leverage our grant funding for greater impact. So many more people are food-insecure now than at this time last year,” said Philpot. “Dynamic partnerships like this will help ensure we can meet the increased need.”
Food pantries at Tuesday’s event included County Commons in Bensalem; Pennridge Community Center in Perkasie; Bread of Life Food Pantry in Bristol; Lester Bahrt Food Pantry in Fairless Hills; Warminster Food Pantry; Bux Mont Church in Warrington; Soulful Blessing in Bristol; Revivals Outreach Center and Food Pantry in Perkasie; Philadelphia PARX Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association in Bensalem; and the YWCA in Bensalem.
