Hello! Meet Crunch – the unofficial mascot of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. Follow along as Crunch and friends take you on a behind-the-scenes adventure at the Food Bank. In this 4-part series, we will take you on Crunch’s journey, and show how your generosity helps to feed more than 400,000 central Pennsylvanians.
Let’s start with the Food Bank’s truck drivers.
A team of 20 drivers traverses central PA five days a week, crisscrossing an area twice the size of New Jersey. Every week, our drivers pick up and receive more than one million pounds of food from nearly 800 manufacturers, farmers and retailers. This includes nearly 300,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables – that number is “un-beetable!”
Where does the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank get nearly 2,000 fully stocked grocery shelves worth of food each week? 70% of the food we distribute is donated from local farmers and retailers.
The remaining 30% of our food is purchased. For example, we participate in an innovative cooperative purchasing the freshest produce straight from the port of Philadelphia – produce like Crunch! We can only do this with your support.
We want our neighbor’s pantries to be full of staples, and their refrigerators full of veggies, fruit, eggs, milk and more. There is dignity in having food that is good for you and that your family likes to eat.
Ensuring our neighbors have enough food requires all of us — donors, volunteers, staff, partner organizations and government officials — to work together for the greater good. Together, we fight hunger, improve lives and strengthen communities.
Check out part 2 when Crunch hops off the truck and lands at the Food Bank’s Healthy Food Hubs in Williamsport and Harrisburg!