Matthew Gambino
This week the leaders of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia (CCoP) and its food agency, Nutritional Development Services (NDS), sent a letter asking for more donations to support our hungry brothers and sisters in the Philadelphia region.
Prices for everything, especially for food, are high and keep rising. The cessation of federal food aid known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) has made a bad situation worse. It’s further complicated by the federal government’s shutdown.
In short, food is unaffordable to purchase, the aid to help buy it is unavailable, and donated food is less accessible than ever.
To see how dire the situation is for people least able to cope with the present self-inflicted crisis in America, I traveled to Southwest Philadelphia this week and the Family Service Center there run by CCoP.
Outside the short brick building on Grays Avenue stood some 80 residents of the neighborhood lining up to receive a bag of nonperishable food including canned goods, cooking oil, peanut butter, dried raisins, and rice.
The line stretched up the block with women and men, young and old, offering a “good morning” and a smile to anyone. Despite their need, they gave what they had: an open heart.
Distribution by friendly volunteers began at 10 a.m., and by 10:30 almost all the people and the bags were gone, with about another 20 or 30 bags ready for the next hour and a half of the giveaway. It was the first of the week, although residents can receive only once per week, to stretch supplies.
Two short pallets of dried goods weighing about 2,200 pounds from Philabundance sat near the basement doors to the center’s food pantry. That’s down from about 5,000 pounds received previously, and center officials told me the number is expected to shrink further to about 1,200 pounds.
Inside the pantry, mostly empty tables in the center of the room were framed by five freezers, all empty of much-needed meat or other protein.
The center’s director for more than 40 years, Lola DeCarlo, described the center’s services to the neighborhood with pride in the volunteers who help their neighbors and in the generous donations of much-needed fresh produce and protein provided by NDS. Those items go first and fast during the twice-weekly food distribution.
NDS coordinates donations from the faithful across the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and purchases food for more than 50 food pantries in parishes and other locations in city and suburban communities.
“Nutritional Development (Services) is a Godsend,” DeCarlo said, adding that non-perishable food from Philabundance and other donors helps immeasurably. “They bring us meats, fresh produce, perishable foods, diapers, baby items. NDS is always a blessing.”
DeCarlo is well acquainted with rising food insecurity in Southwest Philadelphia, which she links to a lack of affordable housing. The pressure on people to choose between paying for rent, affordable food and other needed items like utilities and medications has other effects beyond hunger and the threat of homelessness.
“Mental illness is big right now because everybody is stressed out over the basics, which shouldn’t be in America,” she said.
“No child should go to sleep hungry,” she added pointedly, “not in America.”
DeCarlo praises the residents she serves, and the toughness they show just to get by in life.
“People are working, it’s just not enough,” she said. “They’re nice, and they’re humble, they share with people who can’t get out,” including senior neighbors.
DeCarlo isn’t alone in seeing ever-rising human needs, especially for food. Service agencies of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia are expecting a rise in demand of at least 50 percent in coming weeks because of cuts to SNAP benefits and other programs of the federal social-safety net.
In their letter, CCoP Secretary and Executive Vice President Heather Huot and NDS Executive Director Lizanne Hagedorn said that to meet the urgent need of this moment, “we must purchase twice the amount of food for our pantries to ensure no one is sent away hungry. We now turn to our community to help us sustain and expand our food pantry operations.”
Calling for expressions of “compassion, courage, and community” in the form of gifts of food or money, the leaders wrote that now is the time for local Catholics, guided by the command of Jesus in the Gospels, “to care for the poor, feed the hungry, and protect the dignity of every person.”
All people — hungry, struggling economically or not — possess dignity that is the gift of God. Each of us has been given gifts, and they’re all meant to share.
I cannot turn away from my brothers and sisters that I visited this week in Southwest Philadelphia and in Chester at the Access Center. They were quick to share friendship even as they sought some share in the generosity of others.
I must do what I can to provide a donation in any amount. It’s easy to do, through Catholic Charities: https://ccphila.org/donate/
Please join me to help our siblings in the Body of Christ to live with dignity today, not in fear of tomorrow.
Share this story