Groups come together to fight hunger in Valencia
VALENCIA — Three Valencia organizations are banding together to fight food insecurity in their community.
Valencia Presbyterian Church was looking to take on a community outreach project. The Valencia borough council wanted to fight hunger in the borough. And Girl Scout Troop 26498 wanted a community project.
All three objectives were met May 21 with the opening of a red and white food box at the edge of the church parking lot at 80 Sterret St.
The 24-by-48 inch box with clear doors contains nonperishable food items as well as paper products such as paper towels. People in need of food are welcome to the food and other products under the motto “Take what you need, leave what you can.”
Torey Verts, a member of the Valencia borough council and the Valencia Planning Commission, said the box was the end result of nearly two years of planning.
“Early in the pandemic, we started worrying about food insecurity here in our neighborhood,” said Verts, adding statistics point to one in nine Pennsylvanians under some sort of food insecurity.
At the same time, the Rev. Jim Kirk, pastor of Valencia Presbyterian Church, said his mission team “was looking for ways to outreach our community.”
Since Verts lives just down the street from the church, she said it was easy to team up with the church once borough council gave its OK for the food box.
Jill Roda is a member of Valencia Presbyterian Church and a deacon. She’s also the leader of Girl Scout Troop 26498. Soon her seven troop members took on the task of keeping the food box filled at least through the members’ graduation next year from Mars High School.
“Jim’s my neighbor, so we’re putting the food box on the church,” Verts said. “We’ll be able to keep an eye on it.”
She said an anonymous donor built the food box equipped with a tin roof, two shelves and clear doors fronted by Plexiglas, and set it up on church property May 21 after it was painted.
“We put it up next to the parking lot so that people can drive in and get food,” Kirk said. “It’s accessible, people can see it.”
Kirk said the food box will work on the same principle as a little free library: take what you need and, when you can, leave something.
“I live right down the road,” Verts said. “I will monitor it every week.”
When the food box’s shelves grow bare, Roda’s Girl Scouts will restock them.
“We are going to collect donations from the Scouts and their parents,” Roda said. “We’ll put a notice in the church bulletin and the Mars community forum.”
Verts said, “The borough sensed there was a food need. Food insecurity is invisible. We just don’t see it. If there are 500 to 600 people in the borough, 50 to 60 people are in need of some food assistance.”
Kirk said that while the church has a food collection box inside to collect for the Lighthouse Food Bank, the new food box “is a way of reaching local folks who are not committed with the Lighthouse Foundation.”
“If we see it’s empty, we know we were serving our committee,” said Kirk of the food box.
“I want to emphasize this is an all-volunteer effort,” Verts said. “The planning commission, the borough council, the Presbyterian church and the Girl Scouts. Through the efforts of all these volunteers, this is what happens.”
“It’s just a great outreach to the community,” Kirk said. “We look forward to serving the community.”
