Second Harvest Food Bank’s mobile pantry in Clarendon
By MEGAN BOLLINGER Staff InternSecond Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania continues to serve Warren County and other rural areas.
According to Rita Orinko, agency relations manager, Second Harvest's mobile food pantry is part of a new initiative to better serve the area. The non-profit food bank is also giving free delivery options to local agencies that order food through Second Harvest.
The new mobile food pantry will be making a stop in Clarendon at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, and food will be distributed to residents at the Clarendon Fire Hall.
"We aren't going to scrutinize, all we ask is that people pre-register," said Orinko.
Interested residents are asked to register prior to Saturday by calling 459-3663. They will not be asked to provide proof of need, only their telephone number and address, when they register.
Kondak's Market in Clarendon and Warren Shurfine will be contributing to the mobile food pantry, according to Orinko.
"The idea is that local businesses contribute to the effort," she said.
Second Harvest serves as regional distributor of food to 252 agencies in 11 counties and is part of the American Second Harvest organization. It procures food from retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and food drives and then distributes it to local agencies. It serves Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Venango and Warren counties. Seven agencies in Warren County receive deliveries from the food bank.
Participating agencies, such as churches and homeless shelters, order what they need online at Second Harvest's website. Items in high demand are monitored by Second Harvest personnel so that all agencies it serves are given an equal opportunity to request the item.
According to Jack Bunja, Second Harvest's communications manager, laundry detergent is always in high demand.
"Laundry detergent is something everyone wants, because it has such a long shelf life," he said.
According to Bunja, member agencies have two options for delivery of the food they order. "Some drive to Erie and some we make deliveries to, we have refrigerated trucks for that," he said.
Each year the food bank distributes approximately seven million pounds of food in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Second Harvest provides for two types of agencies, emergency food programs and non-emergency organizations. Emergency food programs include food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Non-emergency organizations are non-profit charitable groups that provide social services, such as child care centers, family service agencies, rehabilitation centers, and senior citizen food programs.
Second Harvest of Northwest Pennsylvania was first established in 1982 as the Erie Community Food Bank, then joined the American Second Harvest organization in 1983.
