Share Food Program receives federal grant for upgrades to new Montgomery County warehouse
SOUDERTON, Pa. (CBS) -- The Share Food Program recently was awarded a new federal grant to pay for safety upgrades to a new warehouse being built to serve member pantries across Montgomery County.
"Looking at the shelves now, it is a little disheartening," said Clarice Foster, pantry manager for the Keystone Opportunity Center in Souderton.
She said most of the food for the pantry comes from the Share Food Program warehouse in Philadelphia, more than 20 miles away.
"We put in orders every Monday and they arrive to us the following Monday," Foster said.
Foster revealed that on Fridays most of the shelves and refrigerators are nearly empty. She said families need food throughout the week.
"By the end of the week, we've served mostly likely 200 people, 70 families if not more than that," she explained. "To look them in the eyes and say, 'I won't be able to give you food this time, this visit,' that would break my heart. And I really am hoping it would not come to that."
However, Foster is hopeful more help is coming in the form of a new warehouse just a few miles away in Lansdale.
"In order to move food more efficiently in Montgomery County, we needed the space to do that," said Carla Clanagan, the Montgomery County program director for the Share Food Program.
The agency bought the building at 1111 North Broad Street in Lansdale last spring with COVID-relief dollars. However, she added that an inspection found the warehouse also needed major roof repairs and a new sprinkler system.
"And so in order for us to make sure it's safe and able to have food in here, we needed these things to be done and we needed the money to do it," she said.
Clanagan said those safety upgrades will be paid for by a new $500,000 federal grant, and that money comes just as leaders from the agency's 36 pantries across Montgomery County call for more help.
"Everyone is at least telling me that there's a 20% increase in the number of people that they are serving," she explained. "Currently, we are serving an average of 55,000 residents in Montgomery County a month."
The new warehouse is expected to start shipments across the county in September 2024. For Foster, it cannot start soon enough.
"To have more than one delivery a week from Montgomery County Share would be extremely helpful," she said.