Just a few weeks ago, officials at the YWCA Bradford and The Salvation Army Bradford Corps were wondering how they were going to keep their food pantries stocked.
Now, those same officials have an abundance of food to serve the community for awhile.
YWCA Executive Director Vanessa Castano said the organization has received a rise in donations from individuals and groups, including seven boxes from a “Stuff the Truck” event organized by Alexis Barrett. Barrett held a food drive in front of Walmart in Foster Township on Sept. 16.
Barrett said her efforts to collect nonperishable food went better than expected. All told, people brought in 14 boxes with hundreds of cans of vegetables, jars of pasta sauce, boxes of pasta, oatmeal and more.
“I think it’s really important for the people of Bradford to give back if you are able to,” she said. “I try to teach my kids the same thing that we might not have much but we have more than a lot of the kids that go to school with them and to always be mindful of that.”
The community’s generosity nearly brought Barrett to tears, she said. When she worked for Children and Youth Services, she indicated that she saw the severity of poverty in Bradford.
“There were times I would go get groceries for some of them [children] out of my own pocket so that these kids didn’t go hungry. As soon as I knew that the pantries were that low, I knew that I had to do something to help,” she said.
Derrick City and Lewis Run volunteer fire departments also pitched in to collect items, and individuals who attend Open Arms Community Church of Bradford brought non-perishable food to Walmart.
This food drive isn’t the only good news that local organizations received recently. YWCA also received word last week that state funding has been released to fund the local food pantry, Castano said.
“This is wonderful news, and we are thankful that these hungry families are not caught in the gridlock in Harrisburg,” she said.
Between 120 and 150 individuals each month are served by the YWCA food pantry, she said.
An official from the Salvation Army Bradford Corps did not immediately return an email seeking comment for this story.
