The contribution will help the Bucks County-based nonprofit generate an additional 30,000 pounds of locally grown fresh produce for hungry neighbors across the area
The Times
Penn Community Bank has donated $15,000 to Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, to help deliver more fresh, healthy produce into the hands of food-insecure people across the area.
Rolling Harvest’s goal is to turn area food pantries into farmers’ markets, by working directly with local farmers to pick up surplus fresh produce from local farm fields and deliver it to hunger relief centers.
Penn Community Bank’s donation will support two of Rolling Harvest’s efforts: Fresh Connect Bucks County, a collaborative program that brings free, mobile farmers’ markets to Bristol, Ottsville, and Warminster each week, and a new initiative to defray basic infrastructure and labor costs that prevent small farms from donating the fresh produce they grow.
“Our generous local farmers invite us to rescue their surplus produce, but many who want to give can’t afford to make a flat-out donation. Our direct-to-farmer funding model will help support small local farms while also enabling us to put more nutritious food on the tables of our neighbors in need,” said Cathy Snyder, Rolling Harvest founder and director. “Penn Community Bank’s donation will help generate an estimated 30,000 pounds of additional fresh produce for food pantries in our area.”
Snyder founded Rolling Harvest in 2010 after volunteering at a food pantry in Bucks County. She was struck by the dearth of freshly grown produce on the shelves, while fresh, nutritious food was being grown in fields just a few miles away.
Today, about 140 core volunteers rescue produce that otherwise might go to waste from 43 farms across Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania and Hunterdon and Mercer counties in New Jersey. Among its dozens of partners are Blooming Glen Farm in Hilltown Township, Blue Moon Acres in Buckingham Township, Snipes Farm and Education Center in Yardley, and Pennypack Farm and Education Center in Horsham.
Rolling Harvest now provides more than 350,000 pounds of farm-fresh fruits and vegetables each year to more than 60 food pantries, shelters, low-income housing developments, senior centers and other hunger-relief locations across the area.
Supporting Rolling Harvest is just one of many ways that Penn Community Bank continues to address the issue of food insecurity in the communities it serves.
“One in ten residents and 16 percent of children in Bucks and Montgomery counties struggle with hunger,” said Todd R. Hurley, Penn Community Bank executive vice president, chief relationship officer. “Helping to ensure that our neighbors have regular access to healthy food is a key priority for Penn Community Bank. We are proud to do our part to help end hunger in our hometowns.”
For more information about Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, visit www.rollingharvest.org.
