Montgomery County food drive plans to honor Pope Francis
By Kaitlyn Foti
In honor of Pope Francis’ imminent arrival to Montgomery County, several local organizations have teamed up to bestow a gift that will continue to give for years to come.
The Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board has joined forces with the Montgomery County Anti-Hunger Network to organize the first of what is planned to be an annual food drive. The idea grew from the planning stages of the Valley Forge Family Day planned for Sept. 25.
“An extraordinary thing happened during our planning meetings,” Mike Bowman, tourism board president, said in a press release. “The faith leaders supplied excellent ideas on how to engage families in our event. But they thought about leveraging the goodwill generated by the Pope, fostering it beyond Pope Francis’ departure back to Rome.”
The Valley Forge Food Drive, Freedom from Hunger drive will collect food donations from residents across the county. The drive is currently enlisting more than 100 churches to serve as drop-off locations. Those locations will then deliver donations to six hubs across the county. Locally, the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities will serve as the hub.
“It’s brand new, so we’ve obviously never done this before,” said Barbara Wilhelmy, executive director of the Pottstown Cluster. “We’re in year one, so we’re hoping that we’re not too late in getting out the information.”
The list of churches where donors can drop off food has yet to be finalized, but Wilhelmy said the board and the cluster are reaching out to more and more congregations and the list continues to grow. In the meantime, anyone with questions about the drive can contact the Cluster of Religious Communities at 610-970-5995.
“We’d like it to go through the churches, but if they drop off here, we’re just happy that people are donating,” Wilhelmy said.
The local food drive is meant to reflect the Pope’s global outreach to feed the poor, and is designed as a gift for Pope Francis. The organizers plan to commission a scroll that documents the plan to have the food drive every year. The scroll will then be presented to the Pontiff before his departure.
“We don’t really know what it’s going to look like this year. But we are turning this into an annual event hoping it’s going to keep building in honor of the pope’s visit. We want to support his vision of feeding people in need,” Wilhelmy said.
This year, the collection date is Sept. 20, and on Sept. 21, the donations will be brought to the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, along with the five other hubs for donations: Manna on Main Street (Lansdale), Catholic Social Services (Norristown), The Open Link (Pennsburg), New Life Presbyterian Church (Glenside) and Ada Match Food Pantry (Bryn Mawr).
The network appreciates all non-perishable food donations, but a list of preferred items includes low-sodium canned tuna, creamy peanut butter, jelly, canned fruit in water, cereals and canned meals like chili and stew.
From there, the Montgomery County Anti-Hunger Network will distribute the food to pantries across the county.
“The connection between Francis’ care for the needy; the history of Valley Forge, which included periods of severe deprivation during the Revolutionary War; and the desire to create an annual reminder of this momentous visit made this food drive a natural,” Ed Harris, vice president of marketing for the tourism board, said in a press release. “We look forward to it being a permanent outreach helping thousands of needy residents across Montgomery County.”
From Kaitlyn Foti. (2015, September 3). Montgomery County food drive plans to honor Pope Francis. The Reporter. Retrieved from: http://www.thereporteronline.com/general-news/20150903/montgomery-county-food-drive-plans-to-honor-pope-francis
NPCHF is proud to fund the MontCo Anti-Hunger Network, a coalition of food providers working together to maximize the acquisition and distribution of nutritious food to those in need in Montgomery County.