July 2, 2008

Group Delivers an Abundance of Help

Source: Bucks County Courier Times and Intelligencer

By: Aubrey Whelan

On a sweltering Tuesday afternoon in downtown Bristol, Jeffrey Fisher watched as a bright green truck maneuvered up the narrow street to the Bristol Borough Community Action Group, a storefront on Wood Street that houses the group's food cupboard.

The truck, sent from Philadelphia-based charity Philabundance, was delivering much-needed produce that the center will distribute to clients, usually about 20 to 25 a day.

“During the summer and during the hard times, the individual contributions have trickled down to two people,” said Fisher, the center's executive director. “We appreciate anything that comes in.”

Philabundance, the region's largest hunger relief organization, supplied more than 600 member agencies with 17 million pounds of food last year and delivers about 197,000 pounds of food by truck each week. The organization acquires food from the Philadelphia Food Distribution Center, wholesalers, distributors, supermarkets, restaurants, local growers, importers and community organizations. Tuesday's truck delivered produce including cabbage, pineapples and bananas to two Bristol locations.

Its driver, Philadelphia resident Douglas Ganyard, has been working for the organization for two years.

“I heard what they were doing, that they were helping people,” he said. “It was a blessing I got hired.”

Lugging crates of cabbage out of the back of his truck, Ganyard said the people he helps make his job fulfilling.

“Every day I deliver food, watch the smiles and keep moving,” he said. “Knowing I'm coming out here to help somebody — that's the first thing.”

Inside, Jane Mieczkowski and her son Joe, 19, were eating a free lunch provided by the center.

“There wasn't a lot of food at home,” Mieczkowski said. “They're very nice here — they give you a lot of food.” She said rising food prices this year can make it difficult to keep food on the table.

Fisher said he's seen increased traffic at the food cupboard this year. “I've seen some people that had become homeless in the last year ... the recent homeless,” he said. “They don't even know how they got here. That's one of the things our country is producing.”

The Philabundance truck's next stop was just a few miles away at No Longer Bound, a food cupboard that operates alongside the Norton Avenue Baptist Church. It gets deliveries from Philabundance every Tuesday. Standing on the tree-lined street outside the tiny building that houses the food cupboard, program developer Martha Miller chatted with families as they stopped by to pick up produce.

Some days, Miller said, the line for food stretches down the block. “There's really a need,” she said. “It's worse this summer — probably because of the economy. People just can't buy food.” The cupboard serves 15 to 20 families a day, she said.

Bristol Township resident Margaret Moore, who said she's been coming to the food shelter for about three years, selected produce and chatted with friends outside the cupboard Tuesday. “I come here because I want the food and I need it. I know Miss Martha,” she said, referring to Miller. “If there's anybody that needs help, she'll be there.”

One of Philabundance's larger member agencies, No Longer Bound also helps run a daycare and several summer camps and provides free lunches for the children enrolled in the programs with help from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Department of Education. Miller said she tries to stock the food cupboard with “stuff that's kid friendly... what they would normally like to eat.” Corn, fruit juice, pasta and meat are the items most in demand at No Longer Bound, she said.

As the Philabundance truck drove on to its next stops of the day — two food cupboards in Trenton — Philabundance communications manager Marlo Del Sordo said one of the organization's biggest challenges is showing people that those who use food cupboards often come from all walks of life.

“There's this idea in people's heads that it's just homeless folks,” she said. “It's people with families, just trying to get by.”

Aubrey Whelan can be reached at 215-345-3177 or awhelan@philyburbs.com