- Live from your public media studios, WVIA presents Keystone Edition Reports, a public affairs program that goes beyond the headlines to address issues in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

This is Keystone Edition Reports, and now moderator Larry Vojtko.

- Hello, I'm Larry Vojtko.

Imagine waking up every day knowing that you have no food in the house and no money to purchase any.

Imagine your children coming home from school and telling them there's no dinner tonight.

The United States is among the wealthiest of countries and yet hunger in our communities persists.

How can this be?

What is being done?

How can we help?

In this program, we'll answer those questions and others.

Right now, WVIA's Paul Lazar tells us about food insecurity.

(whooshing) - [Paul Lazar] Food insecurity.

It's something that many believe affects people in far away places and not in their communities and backyards here in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

However, food insecurity is much more pervasive in our area than we've come to realize.

The term food insecurity, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, signifies a lack of reliable access to nutritious meals.

Feeding America the nation's largest hunger relief organization that works alongside 200 food banks in the United States, said that in 2019, 1.35 million Pennsylvania residents did not know where their next meal was going to come from.

That number included over 383,000 children.

Those numbers only grew as the nation fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as more than 1.77 million Pennsylvanians faced food insecurity.

Covid-19 is just one of the many factors that affects food insecurity.

Other variables include a job loss, supply chain challenges, lack of awareness of existing resources, and more.

There's no one face to put to the issue of food insecurity.

It affects seniors, children, veterans, those in rural communities, minorities, low income families, and more to name a few.

Food banks, churches, and other organizations lend a hand, but they also find themselves busier now than ever before.

So what needs to be done to combat food insecurity in our region?

Does fighting hungers start at the federal level, the state level, or the community level?

It's a tough question to answer, but one that must be confronted as we journey further into the 21st century and one any advanced society should properly address.

For Keystone Edition Reports, I'm Paul Lazar.

- Well, let's meet our panelists for this program.

First, Joe Arthur, he's CEO of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.

Allison Czapp is Executive Director of Second Harvest of Lehigh Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Jane Clements, the CEO of Feeding PA. And Gretchen Hunt, Director, Nutrition Programs and Resource Development on the Commission on Economic Opportunity and the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank.

Now, we also have a studio audience here in the Sordoni Theater, and those of you who are in the audience, you are free to ask questions or, or deliver comments.

I know so many in our, in the audience here are involved in this, in alleviating the program or addressing the program of hunger and in, and food insecurity.

So perhaps you have some, also some stories that you can tell that will be, illuminate the conversation.

But Jane Clements, I'm gonna start with you.

This problem of hunger, it's pervasive, it persists.

Why, why can not we find a permanent solution to this problem that seems to be ever with us?

- So, I mean, hunger has existed forever, pretty much in, in Pennsylvania.

I think, you know, the idea that we're ever gonna find a full solution to completely end hunger is, is an unbelievable goal.

I think the idea that we have as a part of Feeding America and our food banks, is to at least have enough resources and equitable access to those resources for the nearly 2 million food insecure Pennsylvanians across the state.

And that means addressing pockets of rural Pennsylvania that don't have certain resources, as well as looking at urban parts of Pennsylvania, making sure that enough food is, is brought, and then the resources around that to help those people pull themselves up out of poverty.

- Now, now, recently you were all at a food insecurity seminar that we had here at the WVIA studios.

And since you represent various areas throughout the, throughout Pennsylvania, have you found differences or similarities?

What did you take away from, from that experience?

Let me start with you, Allison.

- Sure.

I think there are definitely a lot of similar programs that we're running because we're all Feeding America Food Banks, so it's really fantastic to have that alignment across the state.

For example, we're all working with the PA Senior Box program.

We are all doing Military Share programs.

There are different child and family programs that we can be involved in.

And I think, you know, we are also looking at different distribution models that are kind of changing across our state and across the nation as we look at what's the future of the pantry network.

- And Joe, for instance, If, if, have you found that looking at some of the other regions in, in the, in the state, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, how is that comparing as far as the use of services?

Have you seen that the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has a greater number of people in, in need of those services?

Or is it, is it kind of on an ec, ec, equitable, playing with the other, other regions?

- I, I think, Larry, we have to remember that hunger is really everywhere throughout the world, throughout the country, throughout Pennsylvania, and it varies by degrees.

And Central Pennsylvania is not really known nationally as a, an area of, of deep hunger or deep food insecurity.

But in our work, we know that there is much more hunger than folks realize.

And particularly in rural areas, farm country, if you will, which is, is kind of unnerving to, to people that you could be growing all this wonderful food, food production, yet have a, a high level of food insecurity.

Central Pennsylvania has a mix of rural, urban, small cities, small towns.

But the common theme here is, it's really just average Americans struggling to get by in while we serve the homeless population.

That's only a small portion of the people we serve.

It's, it's really just, it's just folks.

It's our neighbors.

- Now, now Gretchen, Joe talked about Central Pennsylvania, which is largely rural.

Now, the Weinberg, a food bank, has both.

You have urban and rural, and tell us a little bit about your particular challenges.

- Sure.

So, so we've really see, you know, centralized populations kind of along the valley cities from Carbondale to Hazleton.

And that's really where we not only have the concentration of people, but we also have a concentration of services.

And so we have, we have fantastic partners that work there and distribute food there.

And then in our rural communities, things are a lot harder to get to.

And I, I think I'm, I'm sure that our partners that serve rural areas see the same thing.

That while people are more dispersed, so, so are the services, and it takes, you know, a lot more time and travel and transportation to get to those services.

And, and we also see that in our rural communities, people often, um, are, are proud and don't want come out and accept help when they need it.

And so, so making sure that our services are friendly and accessible and, and offering, you know, the best that we can offer so that people want to come in and receive the help that they deserve.

- Well, one thing you all have in common are the people, the people in need.

And many, if not most of the residents in our region are living paycheck to paycheck.

It's tough, but many are able to provide shelter and food for themselves and their families.

And yet there are instances when your neighbor or friend or coworker or even yourself will need some help.

WVIA has this profile of Food Dignity, which des, describes itself as a Food Equity Movement.

- Anyone at any time can be food insecure, and there's not one look to food insecurity.

The reality is, hunger looks like you, whoever you are.

The role of Food Dignity in our community is to really build the connection with people.

And that happens through education, it happens through conversations, it happens through a consultation.

They're just not taking advantage of the resources we have, and I'm sure it's because they don't wanna walk in because people are going to judge them.

The more you get them involved, that's where the magic is gonna happen.

Understanding that we all have different lived experiences, we all have different life experiences.

- In the 82nd Airborne, that's me.

- And the through line or the connection is really food.

What is that?

Oh, the boost.

- My doctor's been telling me about this stuff.

- We're not a food pantry or a food bank.

Food Dignity is a national, international movement.

We have a lot of community partners, a lot of nonprofits, where we actually go on site and we work with them right there to find out what an organization needs to improve food access.

(gasp) Grits.

(phone ringing) They have grits, so we were, I was gonna get grits.

- [Kristen] Okay, good.

The ladies in the kitchen cook a lot of like real southern food.

- Okay, bye Kristen - [Kristen] Bye, bye.

- Is this new roots?

- [Speaker 1] Yes ma'am.

- We actually provide services to individuals experiencing homelessness and to individuals and families impacted by a substance use disorder.

People were coming in saying they were hungry, they didn't have access to food, that they were at risk of homelessness because, you know, do I pay my rent or do I eat?

- Chad Kenan, Chef Sean.

- We prepare breakfast and lunch here every day, and we also have an onsite food pantry.

- Some of the best meals that I've ever had have been from Sean and Tina.

- Providing that food right on site breaks down barriers.

We just save them gas money, we save them time.

They don't have to go to a place their unfamiliar.

If they have transportation challenges, they don't have to worry about taking a different bus route.

They don't have to worry about paying for a taxi.

They're taking the food with them.

And that also keeps the person coming back for future sessions because they know that they're not only gonna get the services that they want and need, but they're also leaving with food.

- I know food, you know that.

- Oh trust me, all too well, all too well.

By doing this, we break down barriers for the nonprofit.

Maybe the nonprofit does not even know that they can be a member agency of a food bank.

Maybe the nonprofit doesn't know that they could work with a local farmer and get produce.

- We got into this because we wanna feed people, but the reality is that is not always economically viable for a lot of folks.

So having this partnership with Clancy who finds funding to pay for our food, food is really important.

- [Clancy] When we give people crush produce, they say, I can finally follow my doctor's advice.

- [Speaker 2] Hey Ron.

- Anytime you have diabetes, it affects every one of your organs negatively.

This program actually made me start eating vegetables again.

- Hmm.

When we have access to nutrient rich foods, people seem, they feel seen, they feel validated, they feel that they're worth, not worthless.

So when we start identifying ways we can think about hunger differently, we start being better educators.

We start being better leaders.

We, we start being better bosses, better moms.

We have a better community.

- Food dignity, connecting those in need with those that can help.

I just wanna remind you that this program will be available online at wvia.org and there we'll have other links and other resources for you, whether you are in need, know someone in need, or wanna help out in some way.

You can get information there at wvia.org.

Jane Clements, I'm gonna come back to you and I, and I want you to explain how this system within Pennsylvania works.

We have Feeding PA, which as I understand it, is something of an umbrella organization under which the various food banks are, are connected.

So, so tell us how that works.

- Yeah, sure, Larry.

So Feeding Pennsylvania is the state association of Feeding America food banks.

So there are nine Feeding America food banks across the state of Pennsylvania, who serve food insecure individuals in all 67 counties through a network of about 3,000 partner agencies.

So when you think about it, you would think of our food banks as almost the Costcos, the big warehouse that brings in a ton of food, and then they work with their partners in the community who are, such as the pantries, to help get the food to the end user or the client.

So as far as Feeding Pennsylvania goes, we're really the, the association that helps those food banks collaborate in those efforts.

We share best practices, we do fundraising, we administer programs on behalf of Pennsylvania.

We administer funding on behalf of the federal government and we do a ton of advocacy with legislators and community stakeholders to really elevate the issue of hunger across Pennsylvania and shine a light on the work that our partners are doing and obviously on the issue at, of the millions of people who are facing hunger.

- Mhm, well I wanna talk about your various programs next, I just also want to remind that the, the studio audience that if you would like to participate, have a question, maybe you have a story to tell about your work with addressing the problem of food insecurity.

Please just step up to the microphone.

I would ask you that you identify yourself and, and then ask a question or, or provide your story.

But Alison, I'll start with you.

So tell us about a Second Harvest and, and your programs.

- Sure.

I think that, you know, some of our newer programs that have come as a result of the pandemic have been really impactful in addressing the need, especially as we see it rising so rapidly during this inflationary time.

I think one of our programs we're most excited about is our mobile pantry initiative where we're partnering with community schools.

These are already community hubs.

We're simply bringing the food there.

The schools don't need to have a lot of capacity to store cold products because everyone's taking things right then.

But the great thing about that is these mobile pantries at the schools are able to provide the wraparound services that people seeking food might also need, such as medical care, housing assistance, dental care.

So it's really a sort of one stop shop where people can access a lot of resources in their community.

One program that's also very close to my heart is The Seed Farm, which is our agriculture incubator program.

The infrastructure we've built there is gonna allow us to really ramp up our production of transplants to push those out into the community, give people more agency to grow their own food as well.

- Joe, about the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, what programs do you have that you're particularly effective or that you're particularly proud of?

- Yeah, so understand that we work with a network of over 11 hundred partner agencies throughout Central Pennsylvania.

So 27 counties anchored by the Susquehanna River.

So we have pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, all the kind of programs that people would expect of a regional food bank.

Youth programs, programs for the elderly.

- 27 Counties.- - Correct.

- Isn't that, that is a huge piece of geography.- -It is.

- Is it the largest as far as like in square... - In the state of Pennsylvania it would be the, the largest.

There are larger out in, in the country, Proud to be a member of Feeding America and Feeding Pennsylvania with, with Jane.

But what we're really proud of lately is innovations that are really helping people, each and every person that relies on us.

So all of the food banks represented here and in Pennsylvania have been working on healthy eating for quite a long time and fresh produce and fresh milk, dairy, frozen meats, all of that.

But what we've started to do in recent years was work closely with healthcare, on food as medicine for people that are food insecure.

As we saw in some of the videos, people that rely on us are thinking about their health, diabetes, other conditions that are very food sensitive.

So we're proud to work with all of the major healthcare providers in Central Pennsylvania on specific programs that help people that have diabetes or are at risk of it and be able to afford the food that they need to follow doctor's orders.

So all of that wonderful healthy food that their doctor is recommending for them, we help them get it, whether it's through our pantries or to help to get them in the grocery store with SNAP benefits and the education to help folks make better selections in the grocery store.

- You mentioned SNAP benefits, let's define that a bit.

There might be some of our viewers who are not familiar with that.- - Right.

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

In the old days it was known as as food stamps and now it is, it's an access card, helps people extend their resources in the grocery store, buy more, more healthy food.

So in addition to providing the food, we do outreach to connect people who are eligible and to even help them do the applications or do it for them.

And that helps bring some economic benefit to, to our grocers and our food providers as well.

But we're always focused on that food being healthy to help people.

So food is medicine is is what the world thinks of it as, we call it health innovation.

- I, I was a, a question came to mind.

Have you found individuals by using the the health innovations program, have you found individuals who haven't previously been able to connect, with a, a medical provider and that you've helped them actually enter into the healthcare system?

- Mostly it works in reverse.

So our, our healthcare partner has a patient that is, and they do the screening to see if they're food insecure.

So normally it comes in that direction and then we get the referral, the phone call to help that individual find a pantry and all of the healthy food that they need, fresh produce, and the like.

- Now you mentioned that you help people find their way through the SNAP program and there's the WIC program, women, and for women and Children.

I, I'm, am I assuming too much to say that you're, you're the Second Harvest, Weinberg, the other members of Feeding PA, also have those programs as well?

Is that correct?

Yes.

- We, I think all of us assist with application for SNAP benefits.

WIC is operated by another partner organization in the community.

And so we certainly do a lot of outreach to help folks that come into our pantries to receive help, connect with all of those resources.

So connecting them with SNAP, connecting them with WIC if they have young children or are pregnant or nursing mother.

And knowing for us, you know, we, we, we know what WIC stands for, we know what SNAP stands for, we know where to find those resources.

But oftentimes people, you know, it's the first time they're struggling and are just, you know, really unaware of all of the resources that are available in the community to help them.

- Yeah, that's that sometimes you just need, you don't know where to go.

You need a direction and you provide the direction.

Right.

Gretchen, what about some of the other programs at the Weinberg?

- Sure.

So one of the things that we do that's a little bit different, we, we do all of the same kind of food distribution programs that, that we've talked about here today, but we also do some awareness raising programs.

We have a program called Hunger 101 that we bring hunger simulation to students in high school classrooms and college and universities in corporate settings and really help them understand what it looks like to struggle to feed your family.

And it's, it's really eyeopening and encouraging to see kind of the lights go on for, for people who may not understand that the, the, the people who are struggling to feed their families really are your neighbors.

They're really the people down the street.

They're facing very real scenarios and, and the resources are right here in our community.

And Hunger 101 helps kind of connect the dots for people and help them get engaged in, in the, the charitable food system.

- One aspect of, of food in america that is troubling to, to many is the amount of wasted food that goes on, whether it's from a restaurant, or institutional setting, maybe a cafeteria in a large business, maybe in a school setting.

Jane, can, can you, tell us what, how, how the system is addressing this idea of food waste?

- Sure.

So we know that food waste exists on multiple levels and there's obviously the folks at home who have the responsibility of what they purchase and what they are able to prepare in a certain period of time and restaurants and such.

But where the charitable food has come in, is through a couple of different ways.

We have retail recovery programs.

So we do a lot of work partnering with grocery stores, Dollar Generals, corner stores to say, you know, we're here, we'll pick up things as they're starting to either if their fresh products come to the end of their life cycle or even, you know, canned goods, shelf stable goods.

That has been a huge program that has really evolved across Pennsylvania.

But then we also have a program, an agricultural, agricultural partnerships program within Feeding Pennsylvania where we work with the farms across Pennsylvania to access that surplus product.

So instead of things being, you know, going back out into the field to left to rot, we're able to provide funding to help those farmers get that product to us.

And, you know, there's 53,000 farms in Pennsylvania.

There is a huge opportunity to ensure that none of that food goes to waste.

And so, you know, finding those innovative ways, but again, it comes back to the education and the ways we can partner with a lot of these different businesses really, that are these farmers and processors.

- Well, we, we actually have a member of the audience who has a question or a, a story to tell.

Could you state your name please?

- Yes, my name is Corin Clark and I'm the community outreach coordinator for the city of Scranton.

And what first I love to hear is the continuing conversation around collaboration and community partnerships.

And I actually have a question because I find that community can pull together and really kind of solve these issues, but I'm curious about what supports your organizations need from local and state government in order to make these initiatives reach more individuals who are food insecure or struggling.

- [Larry] Do you, what, uh, Joe, can you take that?

- Sure.

And that's a, a, an excellent point.

So the community is very good at devising solutions within the community and, and that's really how we are leaning in our work to, to better understand what do people really need.

We're a good resource pipeline from federal, state, local government, other sources, businesses as Jane described, but that's only one side.

That's the supply side.

And our job is to advocate very strongly for what, what people really need.

So in the last time we visited Jane made a point about surplus in the food system, which is great, you know, we need that, but we also need the food that people are asking for and that they're going to eat.

So we have to steer the dollars that we raise towards that type of healthy food, which we may not be getting enough donations of.

So we, you know, we sup, we buy an abundance on those, those kind of categories.

But the collaboration with community organizations, we are all working with hundreds of local partners, organizations that are in the community.

We're running big warehouses and, and the likes.

So people are not coming to our, our warehouses, they're in their neighborhood.

So we really need those partnerships, we need the collaboration, but we also need to extend that beyond just food.

So the other human service providers, other organizations that are helping people to stabilize so they, people don't, families won't need us anymore, you know, once they get stabilized.

So there's much more work that can be done and I think food banks are realizing that in a way now, post pandemic, that we might not have before the pandemic.

So I, I think we're leaning in, but there's clearly much more runway there.

- [Larry] Is that answer your question?

- [Corin] Absolutely.

Thank you.

- [Larry] Anything else to add to that question?

Allison?

Jane?

Gretchen?

- I would just say to that question, you know, thinking about it from a person who's relatively new to food banking, we, uh, have just a collab, a collaborative network across the state through Feeding Pennsylvania and across the nation through Feeding America.

You know, this is a really overwhelming job to be not only directing a, a food bank, but also any of my staff members can tell you this is, it's a lot of work.

We feel this very huge responsibility on our shoulders.

We don't wanna fail.

And there are networks that are established throughout the state and nation to make sure that that doesn't happen.

We're constantly collaborating, we're provided resources, we're giving guidance on how to advocate for different items that can really move this work forward.

So to see that this is already in place and exists and supports us all is, has been phenomenal.

- Well thanks so much for your question.

You're watching WVIA's Keystone Edition Reports, Fighting Food Insecurity.

I'm Larry Vojtko.

We're learning that hunger in our region reaches every county, community, and neighborhood.

WVIA visited a food pantry in Lawton, a small town in Susquehanna County, about 10 miles from Montrose.

There, we met Patti Dudock.

(swooshing) - Our Lawton Mobile Food Pantry is the first and third Thursday of every month.

I was asked if I wanted to do it once or twice a month, then I said let's do it twice.

So I'm exhausted.

For our larger families, it works out.

For our seniors, it helps them in scheduling, or if they're snowed in in the winter and they can't get out the first one, they come the third.

I thank our fire company immensely.

Without that we'd be doing it under a tent and it would almost be impossible because here in Lawton there aren't many places to do it.

This is a mobile food pantry.

This is not our building.

So everything that we have here has to be distributed.

Fruit and nut?

- Four cases.- - Okay.

How about beef stew?

- We go through the inventory and we separate everything by category.

We have all the bags counted out and then we separate the vegetables, the fruit, bag everything up, and then package it all ready to go for distribution.

- Okay.

- Okay, we're ready.

I'm usually getting here at 9:30.

Some of the others get here a little bit earlier, and we have gotten a lot busier since we started.

It's gotten to the point where it's a steady stream of people that come through.

- We started out with 35 families that we were, when we took it over two and a half years ago, and that was 35 once a month.

And we now do 110, twice a month.

It's grown because the economy, it's grown because people have lost jobs.

It's grown.

We all know because of the price of gas, because of Covid.

Everybody falls on hard times.

But there's so much good here.

- We have a great group of volunteers.

It's a lot of fun, believe it or not.

- I like the friendships that we've made and I like helping people.

- [Patti] It's hit a spot in their heart and they don't miss a Thursday.

- Everybody has something different to offer.

Sometimes we bring different food or something extra if we have extra from our garden, because there is definitely a need for it in the community, and you see it with the different people.

- And knowing if they have a, a large family or a small family, so that if we have extras we can give extra into the larger families.

- That's the way we roll here and we've been blessed.

- Alright, see you later, have a good day.

Thanks for coming.

- They're waiting to talk to Eileen because they love her.

- I enjoy coming out in the community, meeting different people, hearin' their different stories.

Thanks for coming.

Don't forget, two weeks.

- The pride goes out the window, because you've spoken to them one on one and you're reassuring them it's okay.

- You never know when you're gonna be on the other end.

- We're all one paycheck away from doing the same thing.

There was a time in my life that I was very, very sick.

Stage four cancer.

My children were little.

Did I ever think I would have to go to a food pantry?

No.

Thanks be to God I did beat it and I always did say, I will give back.

- The more volunteers that we have, the more food pantries we can have.

There's a lot of opportunities out there and maybe you have the answer.

- Everyone here has a spot in their heart, they're just passionate about it.

You have to stop me before I cry because it means that much to me.

- There we have Patti and Eileen, Eileen, the Julia Roberts of the Lawton Mobile Food Pantry.

(laughing) We have, we have a question from the audience, but first I want to ask Gretchen a question.

Could you explain the difference between a food bank and a food pantry?

- Sure.

So you know, people use a lot of different terms, but in Northeast Pennsylvania we try to differentiate and a food pantry is someplace where a family can go to receive help.

So they come and they get the groceries they need to take home.

A food bank is our distribution center where we serve all of the food pantries and we don't, we don't see families, families don't come to our food bank.

Might be a little different in some other places in the community, but that's how we differentiate our food pantry and our food bank.

- And though everything there that you're giving away that's all free.

It's kind of like your wholesale, banks are wholesale, and pantries are retail.

That's sort of how it works.

Well we have another question from the, the audience.

Could you please identify yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and then ask your question or share your story.

- Hi, I'm Ryan Adams.

I'm in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and I'm involved in the Central PA Food Bank as well.

I guess there's a misconception out there that food banks involve a lot of movement of canned food around, and so I guess I just wanted to ask the table to maybe comment on some of the ongoing and particularly the innovative programs related to getting, you know, fresh local food from our PA producers.

- [Larry] Yes, Allison, how about you address that question first?

- Sure, absolutely.

I think the one thing we cannot keep in stock at our food bank, the one thing we cannot source enough of is fresh produce.

Our pantry customers are are always telling us how much they appreciate it and that they want it.

And we're trying to find the resources to source more.

So in Pennsylvania, we actually have really excellent resources such as the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System, which allows us to purchase produce from local farmers.

And that's run through Feeding Pennsylvania.

We also have the new USDA local food purchasing agreement, which will help us work with some smaller farmers and connect them directly to food pantries.

Feeding PA also manages the MARK program as submitted Atlantic Regional Cooperative.

And in our experience we are getting some high quality 10 pound boxes of produce that we are getting a little bit subsidized that we can really push out into the community.

So it is about, you know, sourcing high quality foods.

I think we're all looking at how do we prioritize sourcing from our local farmers that are part of our community and community members themselves.

You know, with the pandemic, a lot of farms have improved their on farm infrastructure.

There were a lot of people going into local food systems at that time.

Now it's kind of going back to normal and the farmers are saying, what do we do?

We, we ramped up production and now where are the customers?

So I think this is the perfect opportunity for our food banks to step in and say, you know, we want your food and we will support you as a business as well.

- Now, Joe, isn't there a challenge though, to, supplying that and, and keeping the inventory of something so perishable as, as vegetables?

- There is a challenge, but our food banks have, have solved that.

So we've invested with, with donor money into the infrastructure to do it.

In our case, because of our large territory, we have 28 trucks on the road, they're all refrigerated so they can handle all of the fresh and frozen product.

But we've taken it a step further, you know, beyond our own, our hubs, which are fully equipped with the cold chain, we provide grants of money to our partner agencies on the ground, because they need to be able to hold the fresh and frozen product as well.

So we've been doing that for over 10 years.

So that's a, a big network of infrastructure and now it's getting the food, right, getting the produce as Allison described, all of the innovations he described in the state we leverage as well.

One further step that we're taking is because we are in farm country in Central Pennsylvania, we have 30,000 of those 53,000 Pennsylvania farms in our territory.

So we're working to connect those farms with our local pantries.

So the food doesn't need to come through the food bank, the Central Penn Food Bank, but stays into last mile.

But our partner agencies need funding to do that.

So with the help of Feeding Pennsylvania and other donors, we're putting together the funding so that they can give the farmer something to get the product out of the field, and we're scaling that up as we speak.

- [Larry] Gretchen, I'll come to you with this question.

What about protein?

What, what, what, how do you help out with supplying protein for the families in need?

- Yeah, sure, so protein obviously is another important component of a healthy diet and um, frozen, uh, protein is um, one of the, the best ways we can go.

It requires all that infrastructure and, and coordination and logistics of where do we get it from and how do we get it to our agencies.

But frozen meat, poultry, fish, have, especially some that we've gotten through the USDA have been coming in in large quantities and we're working with our member agencies, again the same way to provide, make sure that they have cold storage onsite for food distribution.

One of the other things I think that's important when we look at distributing fresh and healthy food, food product is that turnaround time.

And I think, I think Allison, it was you that talked about your mobile, your mobile distributions and having just in time delivery, having delivery, just as we saw in the video with Patti in Lawton, the food, the truck comes and the food goes out that same day and that alleviates some of the, the struggles around food storage and allows, allows them to serve more people at, at one time.

- Well we have another question or comment from, from the, from the audience and please state your name and tell us a little bit about yourself.

- Thank you, Frank Pellegrino and I'm with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and I'm out of Williamsport as well.

And first, you know, Joe has a very strong board and a lot of resources on his board and I think he's worked hard to source his, his, his board well.

And we're very fortunate being in Central Pennsylvania, as you know, our trucks run from the Maryland border all the way to the New York border and we take about one third of the state, but he is also very fortunate to have two corporate supermarkets in our region.

Weis Markets and GIANT Markets.

And they're great corporate partners for our food bank as well.

So we thank them as well.

But you know, they do a great job of friendraising, you know, not only fundraising, but friendraising and, and bringing that, cuz it is very costly to, to run a food bank.

And I think Joe does a very good job with his team, Jennifer Powell as well, of doing that and bringing the necessary resources.

But when you take a look at the cost of diesel fuel to run those trucks and all of those from border to border, you know, every day of the week, it's not free and it's very, very, you know, costly to keep those trucks on the road.

But we do it.

He told you they're refrid, the refrigerated trucks and, and he'll tell you the square footage that we have in the Williamsport hub as well as in the Harrisburg hub, to keep frozen protein and the, and the milk that we have to have the number of square footage that's there as well to make sure that we're providing the best possible that we can.

And again, virtual food drives is really the way to do it, you know, and I, I think that he can talk just a little bit about that, but I thank him for the board that he has, listening to his board, and really moving Central Pennsylvania Food Bank well ahead.

Thank you.

- Wow.

That that's, that's there are expenses there, I wouldn't even think, think of, but are very important.

I mean, - [Joe] I did not pay him.

(laughing) He gives us money.

- You know, oftentimes we think, well what can we do?

You know, you hear these stories, what can I do?

What can I do?

Well, you know, obviously they're monetary donations or so I'm thinking that there could be a, a mechanic out there who could, you know, just volunteer services of keeping the trucks on the road.

Something of that sort.

You know, when examining this issue of food insecurity, one surprising and troubling fact stands out.

One in five households receiving food assistance have at least one member who has served or is currently serving in the military.

In this next video, Steve Porsche asked, Why should a veteran be hungry?

Let's learn more about the Military Share Program.

- We signed a blank check to the US government to do with us whatever they saw fit.

We all were willing to to lay down our lives for our country and for our fellow countrymen.

If we don't believe anybody in the world should be hungry, why should a veteran be hungry?

(water spraying) - This is the most important part of the food bank by the way.

This is how we keep each other going without creating a harm.

Anybody can lift a box.

Anybody can help separate vegetables, you know, and make sure that everybody gets an equal share.

Some folks that come have no connection whatsoever to veterans.

And some folks have some of the biggest connections to veterans.

- I love you too.

- I was just coming back for my first overseas tour and there was this young blonde goddess.

- Got married in 1986 and at the time he was young and invincible.

And I'll never forget that day we were up at the VA.

I was pushing him in a wheelchair at the time because he was so ill.

He was not able to walk from the parking lot to the elevator to go to an appointment.

He currently has pulmonary arterial hypertension from the burn pits and the, the toxic exposures and the oil well fires.

We heard about Military Share and I'm like, what's this Military Share thing?

- The Military Share Program helps reach food insecure veterans, widows, and their families with an additional share of food that they would not otherwise be able to get at a pantry.

- Pensions just aren't cutting it anymore.

They haven't covered expenses for a long time now.

- [Steve] It has to be run by military organization cuz veterans won't ask for help from anybody but their own.

All I have to do is ask for proof of military service.

A husband or a wife of a veteran or the husband or a wife of an active duty service member is also eligible to receive food on this program.

- If it wasn't for this woman right here, I would be dead or in jail in a foreign land.

How about that?

- That's a good plug.

- I've always had this big passion about feeding people.

- Mara connected with me here at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.

We talked about what she can do to help.

The past three years, she has donated over 62,000 pounds of produce.

We're able to use that produce back into some of our programs and we send that out to our Military Share sites.

- The military connection, was heart driven.

My daughter quit college and joined the army for behavioral health.

So with my daughter joining, I felt like I should join, cuz then I could maybe try and make a difference the way that she was trying to make a difference.

- [Steve] Almighty God, we give you the praise and the glory for who you are and for what you've done in our lives.

We thank you for these people, the volunteers who are here.

We thank you for our veterans for the service that's taken place.

Craig, he's our double amputee.

We pray that you would lift his spirits.

Craig has a blood cancer.

It's stage four.

We know that this cancer is something that he might not come back from.

- I hope you like cucumbers and peppers.

Because of the Military Share Food Bank, here now, you know, Craig and I are friends.

- It's a good thing.

It helps a lot of people.

And what I don't eat, anybody that's you know around is welcome to it.

- [Steve] Whether you think of it from the church perspective, whether you think of it from the legion perspective, this gives people an opportunity to talk and to share and to love.

- You can view that online here at wvia.org along with all of the other videos that we have shared with you so far.

And it is truly a, a shame that our veterans and our military have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

I was wondering from the panel about, have you found that many individuals, or at least some individuals in need, lack the proper knowledge of how to shop within a very limited budget and how to then cook the right way that then turns that into a nutritious meal?

I see some heads just nodding here.

Allison, I'll, I'll go to you first on this.

- Yeah, I think, you know, one thing that we're really seeing now is, you know, there's a new need that's happening.

So people who maybe never faced situations of poverty before, never had to make those hard choices.

You know, they're coming into food stores, the the prices are so high and you know, they can't afford gas, they can't afford their rent.

So you know, this, this type of budgeting is a new situation for them.

And I think it can be really hard both mentally and, you know, fit, you know, working out mentally, how do I do this with the math?

And then also just, you know, the internal feeling that you have, that you have to make those hard decisions.

And then I think that, you know, with people who have been low income for a period of time, it's also difficult for them to make those hard decisions between healthy food and cheap food.

They don't wanna be hungry, they want to just have food.

So that's where I think programs like the Healthy Pantry Initiative spearheaded by Feeding PA that we all work with are fantastic programs.

Cooking matters where we're actively trying to teach people how to build meals and healthy meals as well.

- Gretchen, do you have anything to add to that at this time.

- Sure.

I just wanna add that one of, we always see there's, there's coping mechanisms, right?

The the things that you do to make ends meet and, you know, they can be, they can be, you know, not paying certain bills or being late on something.

But when it comes to food, we, that's exactly what we do as Allison said, you know, is it, is it the healthy food or is it the cheap food?

And oftentimes people don't have the skillset to prepare the healthy food.

And so the only choice left for them is the cheap but unhealthy food options.

And so having, having resources available to the, the people we serve that teach them how to cook, teach them how to shop, how to make those healthy choices and bring that food home is, is really important.

And I know that we all, we all do that in, in each of our food banks.

We always look at, look at things that as if, you know, folks need access, they need the skills to prepare to shop and prepare those foods.

And they also need to, you know, meet their, their need for foods that they enjoy.

And a lot of times we have to all of us, right?

We all, we all could eat healthier and we all want to, we want to enjoy the foods that we eat.

So kind of moving the needle and making sure that people understand that they can cook really enjoyable and delicious meals and hence still have them be healthy is really what, you know, we try to get across.

- Yes, Jane?

- Yeah, I just wanted to make a a point here that I think we all have a little bit of trouble budgeting and going through the grocery store.

You know, to say that that's one group versus another based on income.

You know, we saw in the pandemic people were, lost their jobs overnight.

We know that half of the people on SNAP are elderly, children or, you know, employed or disabled and, and most of the people coming into our network are employed at some level.

So I think that it's really not for us to say, like, you know, that they don't necessarily have the education.

I think what we try to do is provide the materials or the information to people who are dealing with multiple issues.

You're not just food insecure, you're clearly dealing with a lot of different things from not having enough money, like we talked about with bills and medical bills and things like that.

And so, you know, Allison talked about it, but we do have a partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Health where we're at least providing videos and recipe cards and the information to give people, knowledge is power.

But I, I wouldn't necessarily say it's always based on the fact that you are, it, you know, wealthy or in poverty.

It really just is making sure that people who are in poverty have the same access to educational resources as anyone else.

- Well, we're quickly running out of time.

We only have a couple minutes left, but we do have a question from the audience and it's a familiar face.

If you've been watching the the program thus far, please identify yourself and, and give us your question or comment.

- Sure, thank you.

Clancy Harrison with the Food Dignity Movement.

I've been doing this for 13 years and one of the things that I've learned over time is I ask myself, what's my lesson today?

Every time I walk out and on the, on the pavement and I'm feeding people and I'm working with people or we're talking here, what's my li, what am I gonna leave with today?

And I try to put my knowledge aside and learn about the barriers, the gaps, the successes, the failures of the people that we're serving, because I know that's the only way we are going to close that hunger gap.

And so my question to you is how do you elevate the voice of the people we're working with in your policy and system decisions that you're making every day?

- [Larry] Joe Arthur, let's go to you first on this.

- Yeah, I appreciate coming to me.

That's a fantastic question.

We're, we're proud that we're leaning into that work right now.

So in a large organization with 1100 partner organizations, this is a significant undertaking.

But the first stop is our board and leadership believes that what Clancy just described is very necessary work.

So we've made that a strategic priority one of our objectives.

So hunger mapping really involves connecting with people, including the people that are using our services and really asking them at, at the community level, at the personal level, what do they need, what, what's holding them back?

And then devising solutions with other community partners to help solve that.

And along the way, they're food insecure, that's why they're there.

So we have to take care of that need as we're trying to help with the other needs.

So that's systemic work.

It needs investment, which we're doing with with donor funding.

It needs systems.

So we have Feeding America and Feeding Pennsylvania, helping provide free platforms.

We're, you know, think software and, and data collection type of infrastructure because this has to be done scientifically.

So we remove bias, all of the things that folks that do surveying work, know how to do.

But all of it gets to getting that voice from the person who's using our services, to us, and then impacting our work, right?

So policies, procedures, and our 1100 organizations we work with impacting how they serve, when they serve, what they serve, who they serve, and all of that's a big undertaking, but we think that's vital work.

So thank you Clancy.

- Jane, I'll give you the last word.

We only have a, a minute.

What I, the viewers are asking, what can I do?

- Sure.

So I think it's important, like Clancy just talked about to get involved to ask the questions.

I often say when you're having dinner at the dinner table, if you're blessed with resources, have the conversation with your kids about the fact that there are families who don't have enough and get involved.

You know, there's a lot of great organizations here, volunteering, donating, but advocating.

We have to reduce the stigma around this issue.

- And we'll have resources on the website.

So visit wvia.org.

Well our, we're out of time.

I'd like to thank our panelists for participating.

Also our studio audience for doing so.

And thank you for joining us.

For more information, again, visit wvia.org/keystonereports.

Follow us on social with the hashtag Keystone Reports.

And remember, you can rewatch this episode on demand anytime online or on the WVIA app.

For Keystone Edition Reports, I'm Larry Vojtko.

Thank you so much for watching.

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