For many, the holiday season is a time for good company and good food.
For some low-income State College residents, the State College Food Bank is indispensible for making sure they can have a festive holiday meal. While Food Bank volunteers are happy to help, they still need a little help themselves.
“This is always the busiest time of the year,” says the food bank’s executive director Carol Pioli.
Normally, the people that rely on the food bank to help feed their households can stop by once every 30 days for a box of food. To ensure these people can make a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast, the food bank gives out an extra box to all clients in November and December.
The extra need isn’t the only thing that’s making things difficult for Pioli and her staff of volunteers. Since the food bank moved to its new, larger space in April, Pioli says more and more people have been coming in to take advantage of their services.
While Pioli is glad to serve anyone who needs food she says it comes with new challenges.
“We’ve had to increase our volunteer base to about 80 volunteers per week,” Pioli says. “At our old location, we could get by with maybe 40 or 50.”
The increased demand also brings financial challenges. Pioli estimates that a Thanksgiving box for a household costs about $60 – and with over 800 households around State College coming to the food bank, the costs really add up.
State Representative Scott Conklin donates turkeys to the food bank every year, and encourages everyone to donate as well.
“We need to remember that these are our neighbors that need our help,” Conklin says. “They’re people that work hard, that have families to feed, that are retirees on a fixed income.”
He says that while food donations are important, so are monetary contributions. Financial donations allow the food bank to cover gaps in food items that aren’t donated, Conklin says.
Pioli says the State College community has been very supportive of the food bank, happily reporting that a recent Boy Scout drive brought in over 20,000 pounds of food.
But with an increasing demand, as well partnerships with various non-profits and other food banks across the Centre region, Pioli says keeping pace with the area’s needs is still a challenge.
“We’re doing our best,” Pioli says. “We want to provide food to everyone that comes here.”
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