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NORRISTOWN — The ceremonial presentation of a $500,000 check to support food pantry operations across Montgomery County highlighted the growing need for further assistance.
The check was made out to the Montco Anti-Hunger Network. The Wednesday afternoon proceedings effectively formalized an agreement authorized in early March between Montgomery County and Metropolitan Food Inc., dba Driscoll Foods, of Wayne, N.J., to aid the Montco Anti-Hunger Network’s purchasing of food for partnering food pantries.
“This funding supports the direct purchase of food to supplement their operations, which is exactly what they told us they needed,” said Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairman Ken Lawrence Jr. “Once the food is received by our local pantry network, it will be distributed directly to our neighbors.”
Seven percent of Montgomery County’s estimated 864,683 residents are considered food insecure.
“These are thousands and thousands of people who we’re serving directly affected by food insecurity, but they’re actual people. These are our friends,” said Patrick Walsh, Martha’s Choice Marketplace and Community Farm’s director of programs. “Some of these people are like our family, and what we’re asking is for a renewed attention and response, a real response, to the fact that we have a real crisis-level problem.”
The efforts of local food pantries across Montgomery County were highlighted time and time again from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the pandemic when we told everyone to stay home, our food pantries stayed open,” Lawrence said.
Montco Anti-Hunger Network Executive Director Amanda Musselman recalled the “need was unprecedented” between March and September 2020. The agency supplies more than 60 Montgomery County-based food pantries and other service providers.
Martha’s Choice Marketplace and Community Farm is one of them. The nonprofit, situated at 353 E. Johnson Highway, hosted Wednesday’s check presentation.
During the remarks, Director of Operations Eli Wenger recalled they were serving between 800 and 900 families per month to more than 2,000 families per month at “the height of the pandemic.” Service has not slowed.
“That was a need like we’ve never seen before. We are now currently doing that every month,” Wenger said.
The organization has around 165 volunteers, according to Walsh. In March, there were 266,000 pounds of food, personal care, and household items given out, according to a Martha’s Choice impact report. There were 2,150 household visits and 6,600 individuals assisted during the 31-day timeframe. Of those, 2,950 were children and 500 seniors.
“The direness of the situation currently is that many families need this on a sustained level, and we need the community to help put together the resources, and the funding to meet this growing and steady need,” Wenger said.
Martha’s Choice Marketplace and Community Farm, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, provides resources to residents across Montgomery County, and primarily service households within a 10-mile radius, according to Walsh.
There were 15,100 individuals, including 6,500 children and 950 seniors, from 47 different zip codes assisted between April 1, 2022, and March 31 at the food pantry, according to an impact report. There were 2 million pounds of food, personal care, and household items distributed during that same timeframe.
Dealing with the ongoing global public health crisis, inflationary issues and lapse of emergency allotment-related benefits from Pennsylvania’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have created the perfect storm of need, Musselman observed.
The state-sponsored extra food stamps benefit expired in March, and pantries have felt the effects over the last few months. Funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture since March 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic-specific funding provided around $95 more per month in benefits depending on household size.
“As grocery budgets became further strained, our network opened their doors to take on this extra increased need on an already stressed food budget,” Musselman said.
“In this time of increased food costs, even a minor cut in benefits is difficult for residents who rely on these funds to feed themselves, and their families, and the county has seen the increased demand for food pantries that play a critical role in helping residents who do not have enough to eat,” Lawrence said.
More than $15 million were allotted to combat food insecurity over the past few years, according to Lawrence. The majority were COVID-19 federal relief dollars.
There was $3.85 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, Economic and Security Act funds designated “to support our pantries with food purchases and infrastructure improvements,” Lawrence said, as well as $8.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act monies to “bolster our food distribution networks, increase agricultural food production programs and support food policy and coordination which will establish the county’s first food policy council.
Additionally, Lawrence said about $3.12 million was dedicated to purchasing a food storage warehouse.
“But the sad truth is we sadly need more for this network,” she said. “For the investment at hand, our network of hunger relief partner organizations (say) many of our residents are not only using this for temporary emergency situations but as a primary source of food.”
“The county continues to do our part to support our residents, and today we are asking others to join us in this fight,” Lawrence said. “We are calling upon area philanthropic organizations, businesses, and individuals to support the food pantries in Montgomery County during this increased time of need. I encourage everyone to donate, volunteer and give what you can today.”
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