By Matt Schickling
Wire Staff Writer
Allie Glover rarely asks what’s for dinner. She’s more interested to find out what everyone else is having.
Over the last few weeks, the 16-year-old student from Hatboro-Horsham High School has been canvassing the community in support of a local food drive for the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s pantry at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Horsham. The items she collects go toward stocking the food bank for Super Saturdays, a program at the church that supplies food items to those in need.
“I got the idea for a neighborhood food drive from a book drive someone else was doing,” Allie said. “I like helping people. I like interacting with people. I put the pieces together from there.”
Though it’s hard to imagine with her shy, quiet demeanor, Allie approached about 150 houses and over 30 businesses in the Hatboro-Horsham community for the cause. She even did it the old-fashioned way, pounding pavement on foot, sometimes in 90-degree heat.
“The first day she went out in the middle of the afternoon,” Allie’s mother, Sue Glover, said. “She didn’t know what to expect. We were just praying for one bag.”
Allie has since brought home over 50 bags.
“I looked over and Sue’s car was always filled with bags,” Bill Gallagher said.
He’s president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at the church and a next-door neighbor to the Glovers. Despite their connection, he said Allie’s efforts were completely of her own doing. She’s been volunteering for the organization long before she started the food drive.
“Every week I went, I noticed the pantry was getting low on food,” she said. “I thought I could put together a food drive to help.”
Allie’s help came at a time when it was desperately needed. In the summer months, donations tend to decrease significantly as families go away on vacation or parents focus on their children, who are home from school full-time.
“This becomes less of a priority and we get hit really hard,” Gallagher said. “Now you’ll see most of the bags sitting there, waiting to be unpacked — that’s because of Allie. She gave us a real shot in the arm.”
It’s a common scene now. Sue’s car pulls up. Allie jumps out, opens the trunk and carries bags that are often larger than her into the church basement, where the pantry is located. The shelves are well-stocked, even the refrigerators and freezers, which were donated by Lowe’s and Gerhard’s, contain a decent amount of perishable items.
It’s a total community effort — families are directed to the pantry from Willow Grove Community Connections, various churches and even the offices of state Reps. Tom Murt and Todd Stephens and state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf. People come to them looking for government assistance, and Gallagher opens the doors of the pantry to them.
“We don’t ask what religion you are — if you need help, you get it,” Gallagher said. “We never turn anybody away. Anybody that comes to us for food, they’re going to get food. They could come from Alabama for all we care.”
Gallagher mentions, though, that about 80 percent of the people who use the pantry are Hatboro-Horsham locals. The St. Vincent de Paul Society even does deliveries for those who are disabled or are unable to get out for Super Saturdays, but their community contributions do not end there.
The church runs a Roadmap Program, where people in financial distress can learn to get back on their feet. Representatives from Beneficial Bank teach free 45-minute classes every Saturday from September to May about organizational skills, financial management and finding employment. They want to augment the food donations with some proactive practices to help people permanently dig out of financial struggles.
In the fall, Allie starts classes in the Culinary Arts Program at Eastern Center for Arts and Technology. There she hopes to hone her skills to one day become a pastry chef, but until then, she’ll probably be collecting more food than she makes. This is a good thing for Gallagher, who said he’s gained about five pounds since Allie started baking, and the members of the Hatboro-Horsham community who are in need of a regular food supply.
“We wanted to get one bag, and another and another,” Allie said, until no one goes hungry.
For more information or to donate, call 215–643–6567 or email [email protected].
