{"id":21978,"date":"2014-05-12T08:55:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T12:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21978"},"modified":"2014-05-12T09:20:36","modified_gmt":"2014-05-12T13:20:36","slug":"hunger-to-help-needy-sets-up-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21978","title":{"rendered":"Hunger to help needy sets up donation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chester County Food Bank, volunteers gratefully\u00a0accept \u00a0Wegmans\u2019 bounty<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Chester County Food Bank was the site of a massive, high-energy assembly line as more than 30 volunteers sorted a giant food donation from Wegmans.<\/p><\/div>\n

At first glance, the energetic crew efficiently exchanging cartons and banter at the Chester County Food Bank looked like old friends \u2013 and masters of their task.<\/p>\n

In reality, many of them had just met minutes earlier and a few had never experienced the kind of daunting challenge laid down by a Wegmans tractor-trailer: 18,173 pounds of food that had to be sorted.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the group \u2013 a mix that included employees from Wegmans, the Town Dish, Liberty Mutual, and assorted other volunteers \u2013 had some advantages. For starters, some of the Wegmans workers had visited the Food Bank about a year ago when the company heard that supplies were low and answered the need with a similar, 18,000-pound-plus delivery.<\/p>\n

\"Wegmans<\/a>

Wegmans Malvern Store Manager Jerry Shelly demonstrates his taping skills during the sorting of more than 18,000 pounds of food donated by his company.<\/p><\/div>\n

Kurt Husebo and Jerry Shelly, managers of the Downingtown and Malvern Wegmans respectively \u2013 and veterans of the sorting regimen \u2013 said a few of their employees knew the drill from past donations; however, they also try to include workers who haven\u2019t had the opportunity before. \u201cA lot of our folks really want to come,\u201d Husebo said. And even the novices are pretty well-versed in sorting and stocking skills.<\/p>\n

Related products, such as \u00a0pastas, cereals and breakfast bars, had to be grouped together, and expiration dates needed to be checked, setting aside those with a shorter shelf life. Within minutes, assembly lines had formed, and former strangers were sharing boxes, tapes, markers and conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all about food all the time so this fits right in for us,\u201d said Amy Strauss of the Town Dish, an online culinary destination. Then she handed a carton to Peter Schiesser, a Liberty Mutual employee and partner in the assembly line. \u201cWhen you sort food with people, you\u2019re friends forever,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

An unseen bond is also formed with the recipients, Food Bank officials say. In a county associated with affluence, the gap between the haves and the have nots has risen during the economic downturn. Statistics show that one in 10 Chester County residents go hungry on any given day. Reports on poverty by nonprofit groups routinely demonstrate that making ends meet costs more in Chester County than in many large U.S. cities, such as Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/a>

Amy Strauss from the Town Dish checks the expiration date on one of the hundreds of cans that needed to be sorted.<\/p><\/div>\n

In September 2010, the Food Bank, an independent nonprofit that acts as a clearinghouse for the county\u2019s approximately 90 food cupboards, moved into a complex in East Brandywine Township so it could expand its operations. In addition to adding\u00a0flash-freezers and dehydrators to extend the growing season, the Food Bank grew existing initiatives like its gleaning and raised-bed programs to provide fresh produce, and it added new educational and nutrition programs. Then, less than four years later, it outgrew its space.<\/p>\n

This past summer, the Food Bank moved into a Uwchlan Township facility that quadrupled its square footage to 36,000. Up until a month ago, the Wegmans\u2019 store managers hadn\u2019t seen the new digs, and so Husebo and Shelly paid a visit. While conferring with Larry Welsch, the Food Bank\u2019s executive director, they learned which cupboards were bare and which items were scarce, setting up the delivery that brought everyone together last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say enough about what a great community partner Wegmans has been,\u201d said Welsch. He said the stores contribute through their Care About Hunger campaigns that allow customers to donate $1 or more at checkout to help feed the needy. The stores also distribute perishables daily, such as day-old bread, to area food cupboards, and when the Food Bank solicited bids for its Backpack Program, which provides healthy snacks and produce to about 1,000 kindergartners a month, Wegmans offered a bigger discount than three wholesalers, Welsch said.<\/p>\n

Shelly said giving back to the community is encouraged by the company. \u201cThis is the kind of thing they want us to,\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anne Shuniak, community outreach and marketing director for the Chester County Food Bank, said the Food Bank is employing a variety of programs in an effort to prevent, not just assuage hunger. On the same day that the crew tamed the massive Wegmans\u2019 donation, another group of volunteers was working in the fields at Pete\u2019s Produce in Westtown Township, a regular supplier of fresh-picked edibles.<\/p>\n

Strauss said typically when her group volunteers, an enormous deposit of food hasn\u2019t just occurred. \u201cThis is pretty exciting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Volunteers are always welcome in myriad capacities, Shuniak said. To find out how to help, visit\u00a0http:\/\/chestercountyfoodbank.org\/donate\/volunteers\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\t
\t\t \t\t\"\"<\/a> \t\t  <\/span> \t\tSend article as PDF<\/span> \t\t  <\/span> \t\t \t\t \t<\/form> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chester County Food Bank, volunteers gratefully\u00a0accept \u00a0Wegmans\u2019 bounty By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times At first glance, the energetic crew efficiently exchanging cartons and banter at the Chester County Food Bank looked like old friends \u2013 and masters of their task. In reality, many of them had just met minutes earlier and a few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[349,3052,5520,5521,5522,3050],"class_list":["post-21978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-food-bank","tag-larry-welsch","tag-liberty-mutual-insurance","tag-the-town-dish","tag-uwchlan-township","tag-wegmans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}