Helping Harvest

“Being a dad is less about perfection and more about showing up, every single day.”

To the dads, grandfathers, uncles, and father figures who play catch in the yard, cheer at the recital, help with homework, and more -- thanks for showing up and supporting the next generation. Happy ! 💙👨‍🍼👨‍👧‍👦

Thank you to Giorgio Fresh Co. for the generous donation of 2,907 pounds of gorgeous shiitake, brown clamshell and yellow oyster mushrooms this week.

Now that's a lot of tasty fungus! 🍄

Of course, our chefs immediately got to work utilizing some of this beautiful product, making a mushroom alfredo sauce. And believe us when we tell you, it was DELICIOUS!

This is just the beginning of our wonderful partnership with Giorgio, with much more to come! Thank you so much for your support -- your generosity will help us fulfill our mission to provide nutritious food to people facing hunger in our communities.

A tisket, a tasket, an Agency Conference basket! 🧺

We saw a lot of big smiles when we handed out raffle baskets earlier this month at our Agency Conference at Penn State Berks! 😁

A special thank you to all of the businesses that donated items to help us show appreciation to our agency partners, who work so hard to distribute food and support neighbors in our communities.

⭐ Raffle basket donors included:

🍨 Plum Creek Farm
📖 Starr Books (Douglassville)
🍞 Pepperidge Farm
🥪 Jersey Mike's Subs (Wyomissing & St. Clair)
🍿 The Hamburg Strand Movie House
🎥 Shankweiler's Drive-In Theatre
🍺 Sly Fox Wyomissing
🥔 Dieffenbach's Snacks
🍦 Yogo Crazy Wyomissing
🥩 Outback Steakhouse - National (Wyomissing)
🥤 Pepsi
🐷 Lehigh Valley IronPigs
⚾ Reading Fightin Phils
🐾 Petco (Exeter)
☕ Café Folino
🥪 Mays Sandwich Shop
🐮 Way-Har Farms
🍝 Olive Garden
🍩 Wyomissing Restaurant and Bakery
🥨 Tom Sturgis Pretzels
🛒 Boyer's Food Markets (Douglassville)
🥪 Subway (Wyomissing)
🔨 Lowe's Home Improvement (Exeter)
⛽ Wawa
🥩 Austin's Restaurant & Bar
🍛 Saffron Road
🥨Unique Snacks

"I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons."
~Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation 🎩

On this Juneteenth, we commemorate the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the U.S. finally learned of their freedom...more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Juneteenth is a celebration of resilience, liberation, and the ongoing pursuit of justice and equity. We believe that food is a fundamental right and that everyone deserves access to fresh, nutritious food.

Today and every day, we honor the spirit of Juneteenth by working toward a more just and equitable future - one where everyone in our community has access to adequate nutritious food.

We all know that Chef George loves an audience!

But today's kitchen tour featured a slightly younger crowd than usual...a group of kids from Reading Recreation Commission!

After Chef George showed them around (and showed off his beloved cooking equipment), the kids got to try their hands at being pizza chefs! 🍕

Thanks for visiting - it's always a blast when we have a group of kids in the kitchen!

💕 VOLUNTEERS OF THE MONTH: BARB & ERIC 💕

Going on five years, and a combined 1,200 volunteer hours…these two lovebirds are quite the power couple! If you ever get the chance to work alongside Barb or Eric, you will be quick to see their devotion to improving our communities.

Barb managed a garden in Houston for a food bank, which was able to grow supplemental food for distribution. When they moved back to Berks County, the need to fight food insecurity was that much stronger, and luckily they found us!

You can find these two primarily bagging perishables or Weekender, but they also package at the Community Kitchen, assist at Mobile Markets, and even help out our agency partners!

In their spare time, they enjoy spending it with their grandchild, as well as at home on hobbies such as carpentry and gardening.

When they’re able, they’ll pack up and take a cross-country trip across the U.S. or a small barge river tour with their family in Europe!

“It is hard to believe that the food most of us take for granted is not a given for some many people, especially when it is easy to see so much of it go to waste. This is our way of making it a little better for people in need,” they said.

Thank you to our friends at 830 WEEU for dropping by the warehouse to deliver food donations from their annual Phood Drive!

This year's drive - aimed at knocking hunger out of the park ⚾ - collected a whopping 534 pounds of food. Thanks to all who contributed!

Last night, we had a beautiful night for one of our most anticipated community events of the year: the Schuylkill United Way 9th Annual High School Football Challenge! 🏈

Our Chief Development Officer, Dave, represented us at the event...and he was very excited to try out our brand new Plinko game for the first time.

Thanks to everyone who came out and said hi to Dave...and dropped a Plinko disc or two!

We're so happy we were able to support this great event again this year -- good luck to all the teams on your upcoming season!

WACKY WATER WEDNESDAYS ARE BACK! 💦☀

We are excited to partner with Reading Recreation Commission again this summer to bring snacks and drinks to Wacky Water Wednesdays!

The first one is coming up at the 3rd & Spruce Rec Center this Wednesday, June 17, from 1-4pm.

Come on down and cool off in the refreshing spray from the hydrant. We hope to see you there!

We hope you'll join us in paying tribute to Old Glory on this . Let's hear it for the star-spangled banner! ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸