Philabundance is a non-profit

food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

that serves the

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

Delaware Valley The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...

regions of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. It is the largest such organization in the region. The organization stated goal is to end hunger in its communities.

History

The organization was founded in 1984 by Pam Lawler. In 2005, it merged with The Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, and the new entity operates under the name Philabundance.

Organization

Philabundance
serves 90,000 people each week, 30% of whom are children, 15% of whom are seniors, and others. It has programs and a network of 350 agencies. Philabundance works with local grocers and farmers for food management; in 2016, it rescued 10 million pounds of food. The organization also hosts events alongside the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. Philabundance's partner, the Chester County Food Bank, and other

Feeding America Feeding America is a United States–based Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other c ...

food banks have partnered with colleges to provide food to schools.

Programs

* Fresh For All Program – Operated at nine locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it has the goal of serving greens. * Senior Boxes Program – Gives

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...

-sponsored food boxes to approximately 5,000 low-income senior citizens. * Philabundance Community Kitchen – A job training program for the unemployed. * Grocers Against Hunger – Allows participating grocers to donate surplus inventory to Philabundance. In 2015, the program saved approximately 10 million pounds of produce. * KidsBites – KidsBites has provided almost 250,000 pounds of food to people. Philabundance offers several other program models: Mobile Pantry, BackPacks, and LunchBoxes.

Fundraising contributions

Following are some of the largest annual contributions: * Phans Feeding Families: The

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

and the Citizens Bank sponsor the annual Phans Feeding Families program, which consists of a night at the

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

at which there are

raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are che ...

s and fundraisers, as well as food collections at

NRG Station NRG Station (formerly named AT&T Station, and earlier Pattison station) is the southern terminus of the SEPTA Metro Broad Street Line, B, located at 3600 Broad Street (Philadelphia), South Broad Street, at the intersection with Pattison Avenue ...

and

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Home to Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the stadium opened April 3, 2004. It is named after Citizens Financi ...

. Citizen Bank makes an annual donation of $40,000 to support Philabundance's KidsBites initiative. * SEPTA Stop Hunger at Your Station – The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) supports Philabundance annually by collecting money for food at more than 40 SEPTA stations. * 93.3 WMMR's Preston & Steve Camp Out for Hunger – Since 1998, Preston & Steve have held a five-day "Camp Out for Hunger" event, most recently, at the

Xfinity Live! Xfinity Live! Philadelphia (known as Philly Live! during planning and construction) is a dining and entertainment complex located at the corner of 11th and Pattison Avenue in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex on the eastern edge of the for ...

complex. This raises more than 2.6 million pounds of food, US$200,000 in 2019, and over 14 million pounds since its inception.Preston and Steve's Camp Out For Hunger 2010
. Philly2Philly.com (2010-12-01). Retrieved on December 7, 2010. * 6 ABC's Holiday Food Drive: Each year, 6 ABC and partners

Dunkin' Donuts DD IP Holder LLC, doing business as Dunkin', and originally Dunkin' Donuts, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 19 ...

and

ACME Acme is Ancient Greek (ἀκμή; English transliteration: ''akmē'') for "the peak", "zenith" or "prime". It may refer to: Arts, entertainment and games * ''Acme'' (album), an album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Acme and Septimius, a fic ...

raise food, funds, and awareness of Philabundance from

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

through the New Year. Elements of the campaign include donations at ACME stores, a 6 ABC

telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...

, and Dunkin' Donuts in-store promotions. * Toyota Hauls Away Hunger: The

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Dealership Association of the Delaware Valley holds a food drive each December, with around 50

Tundras In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic, Alpine, and Antarctic. Tundra vegetation is ...

caravaning from Philabundance's

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

in North Philly to Citizen Bank Park's parking lot. * Fraud Street Run: Two Philadelphia runners, Chip and Jeff of the ''Junk Miles'' podcast, organised a charity run inspired by the

Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference On November 7, 2020, four days after the United States presidential election was held, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at ...

. The event raised nearly .

References

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External links