PA Ag Sec’y talks hunger at food bank

BY STACI WILSON

Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding made a stop Thursday in Susquehanna County, visiting the Montrose-area food bank and community garden followed by a stop at the courthouse where the Dairy Promotions team was serving up ice cream.

Redding said Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed budget includes an additional $3 million for the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) initiative that, if enacted, would distribute funds to emergency food providers, and support agricultural producers in the state.

“It’s a way to connect Pennsylvania products with the charitable food system,” Redding said in remarks at the Trehab food bank in Bridgewater Twp. “It’s the piece that was missing.”

Redding said there is an “unmet need” that can be filled through the charitable food program with local agricultural producers. The proposed additional $3 million in funding would supplement the $18 million base program, and serve as a way to control cost with the direct connections to the products.

Montrose food bank director Lynn Senick said that 5,300 families are served each year; with 500 households receiving food on a monthly basis.

The food bank also handles emergency food situations. “We always give someone food who needs it,” Senick said. “No one ever leaves here without food.”

In addition to state funding, Senick said the community is incredibly generous with its donations.

In the past couple of years, Senick said there has been a slight decrease in the number of households using the food bank, but an increase in individuals. “There are more working families with children,” she said. “People are having trouble making ends meet.”

Trehab executive director Dennis Phelps also spoke about the community’s involvement in the annual Thanksgiving Feed-a-Friend program that serves 900 families in Susquehanna County.

While looking at the food bank garden, Redding said, “I believe strongly that everybody has a right to eat.”

He said that over 1 million people in Pennsylvania are at risk for hunger. “(People) wake up and hope there is something to eat. In a state with productive agriculture, we need to bridge that gap.”