Housing Transitions will welcome community members to its fourth annual Rally in the Valley food truck festival starting at noon on Sunday on the 200 block of South Allen Street in State College.
The family-favorite event was canceled in 2020, as were many fundraising events throughout Centre County. For Housing Transitions, however, the pandemic not only decreased fundraising opportunities — it also increased needs for the organization’s services, which include Centre House, the organization’s homeless shelter, and rapid rehousing and housing assistance.
“All in-person fundraisers had to move to online [and] virtual fundraisers and, at the same time, our expenses just increased significantly, because, in order to kind of mitigate the risk of spreading COVID, we closed our shelter for an extended period of time and were actually paying for our clients to stay in hotel rooms in the area, which is a far more expensive way to shelter unhoused individuals,” explains Karl Gassmann, development and community relations coordinator at Housing Transitions. “We had to explore a lot of different, other fundraising sources that became available — government grants and things of that nature. We weren’t able to rely on in-person fundraisers in the same way, so this food truck rally is really our first, big, in-person fundraiser since COVID hit.”
Gassmann says that, at the peak of pandemic-related employment loss, Housing Transitions saw a “real uptick” in the organization’s number of shelter clients, at one point even sheltering more clients in hotels than it would have been able to fit into its shelter, were it able to operate at full capacity.
Centre House is the only 24/7, emergency family shelter in Centre County and is primarily funded through community donations. Each year, Centre House serves approximately 100 clients. Currently, Centre House has resumed operations, but is still not operating at full capacity, requiring Housing Transitions to continue offering hotel housing in some instances.
All food trucks participating in the upcoming Rally in the Valley event are donating 15% of their proceeds to the Centre House program. Additionally, the event includes a raffle with items donated from local businesses, with proceeds also benefiting Centre House.
For those who have never attended the annual event, Gassmann says to expect a block party-like atmosphere, with a wide array of food trucks, lawn games, children’s activities and a bounce house. Acoustic rock duo Hops & Vines also will be performing throughout most of the event.
This is the first year the event has included a raffle and new food trucks are in attendance as well. The full vendor lineup includes Bonnie Blue’s Smokeys & Sweets, Taco Inc., Happy Valley Chef, Savory Station, On the Go Baking Co., Classic Cones, Pappy’s Popcorn and Sunset Slush Happy Valley.
Entry to the event is free.
Rally in the Valley 2021 takes place from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, on Allen Street in downtown State College, between Beaver and Foster avenues. Hops & Vines will be performing in front of the State College Municipal Building from 1 to 3 p.m. Learn more about the event at housingtransitions.org/upcomingevents/.
