The Westmoreland Food Bank ensures that all who need a helping hand receive the healthy and nutritious food that they need to thrive. Through critical partnerships with organizations throughout Westmoreland County, the Westmoreland Food Bank distributes food at over 200 program locations—assuring that no one needs to go without a meal.
The Westmoreland Food Bank
The Westmoreland Food Bank hosts a network of 40 food pantries where produce, pantry staples, dairy, and also protein items go out to thousands of families each month. Partnerships with 20 other community programs provide hot meals at shelters and day programs, after-school snacks for children, and other essentials for neighbors in need.
The mission of the Westmoreland Food Bank is to enable our neighbors to have ready access to food.
In addition to these 40 food pantries that distribute grocery items throughout Westmoreland County, numerous specialty programs reach all corners of the county to provide additional resources. 1,500 senior citizens are served through the Senior Food Box Program. Over 600 children participate in Weekend Backpack and Summer Meal programs. These ensure children have the nutrition they need throughout the year to grow, learn, and play. Each month, the organization serves veterans and military families at Military Share Distributions. Fresh Express and Mobile Market are mobile solutions. They travel to different locations throughout the county weekly while offering fresh and perishable foods. Each of these mobile programs operates to ensure that perishable rescued food reaches homes instead of landfills.
How Donations Help the Food Bank
To continuously improve, our organization operates an outreach and expansion initiative to evaluate the ever-changing needs in communities across the county. Through this effort, we gauge increases in demand, the number of partners we currently engage, and we determine ways that we can better serve a community in need. Through this effort, we’ve opened new food pantries, increased capacities of existing partners, and expanded our partner network.
Last year over 4,600 people donated 66,000 hours of time towards our mission and programs. Volunteer efforts and food drives to help feed our neighbors are always underway. Donated funding is always in demand as economic factors have driven the cost of food higher—not only for our neighbors but also for our organization.
Donations of food and funds made to the Westmoreland Food Bank are put to work immediately throughout our programs. We are proud to state that 94 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to food and programming. We truly could not do this work without the support of our community, and we deeply appreciate every donation received.
Story and Photography by The Westmoreland County Food Bank
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