Help fight food insecurity

To the Editor,

Last summer, the St. Katharine Drexel food pantry in Chester reached out for contributions through the Nether-Providence Time Bank. Andrea Knox of Swarthmore Friends Meeting was moved to help. She publicized the need within the Meeting, whose families began donating bags of groceries weekly. These bags were taken to the food pantry by Swarthmore residents Donna Milligan and David Coffin. David, who has a food industry background, thought there could be a way to increase donations and ensure a more reliable supply. He discovered that the Upland grocery store Sam & Sam wanted to help. Since December, Sam & Sam has been providing pallets of shelf-stable goods at bulk rate prices, which David delivers to the pantry once a month. These bulk purchases supplement the grocery contributions from individuals.

We are deeply grateful to those who have already responded to this need with a financial contribution to the Pantry Staples Project. We are also deeply grateful for financial support from Occasionally Yours and Scott and Theresa Richardson’s First Friday and St. Patrick’s Day meals. And we offer our sincere thanks for a gift from Swarthmore Friends Meeting and for a community grant from the Rotary Club of Swarthmore. Pantry Staples will be able to deliver items to St. Katharine’s for another few months.

However, the problem of food insecurity is not going away. We hope that you, the readers of the Swarthmorean, will help our neighbors in Chester. Will you help keep the shelves of St. Katharine Drexel food pantry stocked? Thanks to the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association, you can make a one-time or periodic donation for this purpose via the association’s website. Or you can mail a check, with Pantry Staples (or PSP) in the memo line, to SSCA, P.O. Box 306, Swarthmore PA 19081.

Sincerely,

Andrea Knox, David Coffin, and Louise Coffin
Swarthmore