Local Food Pantries Seek Donations Ahead of Summer

Hunger doesn’t take a vacation. That’s the message area food banks are trying to get out to the public as they work to stock their shelves ahead of the summer.

“What happens in the summer is people go away but the hunger doesn’t stop,” said Melissa Mantz, a development officer with the Bucks County Housing Group, which operates three community food pantries in Penndel, Doylestown and Milford Square.

According to Mantz, BCHG’s food pantries serve close to 2,000 households and many of those residents utilize the service repeatedly.  There are many ways to help, Mantz said.

“You can do food drives as a group or in your neighborhood. You can donate money. It costs money to operate food pantries,” she said.

She said the pantries are in need of the following items:

• Canned meats like spam, chicken, beef stew, chili, hash
• Canned fruit
• Juice
• Baking products like flour, sugar, oils and baking soda
• Healthy snacks
• Condiments
• Microwaveable dinners
• Beans, all varieties

To make a donation to the Doylestown Food Pantry, contact Kate Bianchini at kbianchini@bchg.org or call 215-345-4311 x101.  

To make a donation to the Penndel Food Pantry, contact Denise Daniels at ddaniels@bchg.org OR call 215-750-4344 x102.

“We’re lucky we receive support. We work with great organizations like Bucks County Opportunity Council. They work really hard to bring food in for the pantries,” Mantz said.

The Bucks County Opportunity Council recently held an Adopt-A-Pantry food drive, collecting 11.5 tons of food for local families.

“The Adopt-A-Pantry drive was organized to make food donations available to low-income families at the beginning of summer, when pantries shelves are the emptiest and school lunch programs cease,” according to an announcement posted on Patch.

Food collection sites were organized throughout Bucks County starting May 1. Contributions during the drive resulted in 7.3 tons of food, which was combined with $8,414 in donations.

The donations benefitted the Opportunity Council’s Food and Nutrition Network, a local network of 27 food pantries. “Food is so basic, and so is kindness,” said Roger Collins, executive director of the Opportunity Council. “We thank the community of Bucks County for remembering others.” 

The New Britain Baptist Church also operates a food pantry. Dorothy Rimmer said the church is in need of any non-perishable food donations except canned string beans.

Rimmer said the New Britain Baptist Church Food Pantry experiences an “increase in need and a decrease in giving” during the summer because people are away and children who receive lunch at school are eating more meals at home.

Donations can be dropped off to the church, located at 22 East Butler Ave, on Monday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m.