The Food Center
A History
The Food Center is located in the Morrisville Presbyterian Church in Morrisville, PA, which is just a few blocks from the Calhoun Street Bridge (a walking and driving bridge that spans the Delaware River) and the center of Trenton, NJ. The Food Center is one of the few emergency food assistance agencies in this area.
Morrisville Presbyterian Church has met requests for food from Morrisville, PA and Trenton, NJ residents for many decades as one of its mission outreach programs. The church staff used to handle all food requests. However, by 1997 increasing requests for food made it necessary to involve members of the congregation to help serve the local community. MPC organized a “Food Pantry” that year under the leadership of Jane Allen, who with the help of a few church member volunteers collected, sorted, and purchased food, packed bags and gave out the food to those who came.
Through word of mouth, the requests for food assistance grew at a steady pace from about 30 families a month in 1997 to more than 100 families a month in 1999. Throughout this time a steering committee, under Jane’s guidance, met frequently to decide upon the many issues that arose. Much of the discussion in the early days focused on whom to serve and eligibility standards, procedures for interviewing clients and distributing food, developing resources for food and funds, and ideas for attracting other congregations into the mission.
The space for the Food Pantry, which was at that time located on the 2nd floor of the church in the reception area and library, was not large enough to accommodate the increasing numbers of people who came. We moved the food pantry service area to its current location on the first floor of the church. More volunteers from the MPC congregation and several other congregations in the area stepped in to meet staffing needs, as well as to collect food donated on a weekly basis from local supermarkets, bakeries, and bagel shops. And, finally, much effort was undertaken to develop relationships with regional hunger relief organizations.
By the year 2000 the Food Pantry was able to participate in the New Jersey Food Bank Second Harvest program through the Mercer Street Friends Food Cooperative (currently the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank). Through the regional food bank, we are able to purchase non-perishable and perishable foods at the cost of handling or at wholesale prices. We also joined Philabundance, a Philadelphia-based distributor of surplus and donated food, and continue to receive weekly deliveries of fresh produce and dairy products.
By 2001, we became the beneficiaries of many local and large food drives, such as the holiday food drive of the Boy Scouts of America and the annual May food drive of the National Letter Carriers Association. In fact, the Food Center is one of the major recipients of this collection in the 19067 ZIP code area. We began collecting food with damaged packaging on a bi-weekly basis from the Marrazzo’s Thriftway stores in Hightstown and Ewing. All of the resources mentioned, in addition to the food drives and donations from businesses and from groups inside and outside the church, made it possible to keep up with the requests for food that we received. This is still the case and when any one of the resources is missing, our cupboard gets bare.
The name under which we were operating, Food Pantry, wasn’t a registered name of the Morrisville Presbyterian Church. In 2002 the congregation was asked to offer suggestions for a name for the MPC emergency food assistance program. There were many names suggested; by committee vote in July of 2002 the name of the “Food Center of Morrisville Presbyterian Church” was approved. The Food Center, as we now called it, was set to begin a new chapter in its history.
In the early years, more than a half of the food we provided clients came to us through food donations. As more families began to come to the Food Center for help -- by 2003 about 350 households were coming each month -- we needed to purchase a larger proportion of the food we distributed. Funds were limited; we needed more help and some creative thinking to raise money.
To help address the need for more funds, the deacons of MPC, along with volunteers from the Food Center, organized the first “Hike Against Hunger” in October of 2004. Local businesses and community organizations were asked to help sponsor our hike with materials and food for a picnic. This annual event continues to be organized by the deacons of MPC and is the major fundraising activity we host for the Food Center. Many families and individuals join together for a beautiful 4-mile hike that wends its way from the Morrisville Presbyterian Church parking lot, along the Delaware Canal towpath and back to the church where all participants enjoy a community picnic. The “Hike Against Hunger” is now a tradition for the Food Center that is held on the second Saturday of every October.
After 10 years of service, Jane Allen stepped down as coordinator of the Food Center in 2006. It is because of Jane’s vision, creativity, and devotion that the Food Center became a working reality that now distributes about 3-4 days worth of perishable and non-perishable food items to nearly 500 families every month. The total value of the food we distribute currently is roughly estimated at $170,000.
The work of the Food Center is still done by volunteers. We are blessed by the fact that our volunteer base has been expanding to include members of many other organizations and congregations.
We welcome the participation of new volunteers, churches and organizations that are concerned about alleviating hunger in our community. Won’t you help us to help others by providing nutritious food for people who would otherwise have to make choices between food or medicine, dinner or heat? If you would like to join our team, please send us an email or fill out the easy form on our Contact page.