A new minivan-turned-food-pantry will help Central Susquehanna Opportunities (CSO) address rising food insecurity in the region.
“We see people come in that have never had to access social services. For the first time, we meet families who are coming to see us because they have an unexpected medical bill or an unexpected job loss, or they're working and their income just does not meet their household expenses,” said Bair, CSO's CEO.
She said the number of families who have jobs but need food assistance is skyrocketing.
One year ago, Central Susquehanna Opportunities started it's Mobile Food Pantry to combat food insecurity. The community action agency unveiled its new mini mobile pantry on Thursday at a celebration at the HUB at Mulberry Mill in Bloomsburg.
The mini mobile pantry will operate alongside the main pantry.
The HUB is a collection of social service offices on the building's first floor. The remaining three floors are used as subsidized housing for older adults ages 62 and up.
'More than healthy food'
Representatives from Geisinger, M&T Bank and state Sen. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-Columbia, say the smaller pantry will expand CSO’s reach to more communities in Northumberland, Montour and Columbia counties.
Bair said food insecurity has gotten significantly worse over the last year.
“These are not people that are living off of the system. These are not people that are not trying to not improve their lives. They're folks that are just trying to get by,” she said.
Culver said she increasingly hears from her older constituents that they struggle to afford food, let alone other needs.
“How can you choose between medicine or groceries or electricity,” she asked.
“So, what the CSO has done with the pantry is remind us all that when neighbors are helping neighbors, no one has to struggle alone,” Culver said.
Bair said the pantries also provide residents more than healthy food, they also help people access services to improve their financial situation. CSO provides budgetary assistance, housing and transportation aid and can connect people in need to other community organizations that can help them in other areas.
“Our mission is self-sufficiency. We work to achieve that mission by strengthening communities by providing services to individuals and families,” Bair said.
Rising hunger in Pa., SNAP cuts
Food insecurity exists in every township, borough and city in Pennsylvania, Culver said.
“It doesn't discriminate by age. It doesn't care how much money you … had at one time or what community you live in,” she said.
Bair said the agency noticed a sharp increase in community needs after emergency allotments that boosted funding for food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), ended in 2023.
But hunger in the region — and Pennsylvania as a whole — started to increase before emergency allotments ended and cuts to SNAP from the One Big Beautiful Bill put strain on local food banks.
Food insecurity in Pennsylvania increased by 48% since 2020, according to data from Feeding America.
That’s more than double the increase of the national average, which rose by 21% over the same period.
The data comes from Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap study, which documents food insecurity across the U.S. Their new report, published in May, uses data from 2019 to 2023.
Impact of CSO’s Mobile Food Pantry, community support
Central Susquehanna Opportunities’ first food pantry distributed over 73,000 pounds of food in its first year across the program’s three counties, Bair said. The program served over 2,200 people, for a total of 5,000, counting repeat customers. The program also reached 830 different households for a total of 1,900 households, counting repeat customers, she said.
Bair also thanked Hummel Station for helping CSO purchase its new $40,000 mini pantry and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in Harrisburg for their support.
The agency also received two grants from Warrior Run High School and Milton Area High School in Northumberland County as part of a Youth in Philanthropy program run by the Community Giving Foundation. Bair said CSO will use the grants to purchase food and other supplies for the pantries.
Locations for Central Susquehanna Opportunities’ mobile food pantries:
●Welsh Center: Second Wednesday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1 North Locust St., Coal Twp.
●Ber-Vaughn Park: Third Wednesday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 6084 Park Road, Berwick.
●Danville Area Community Center: Fourth Wednesday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1041 Liberty St., Danville.
●Warrior Run Fire Department: Fourth Wednesday of each month from 3 to 5 p.m. at 1125 Main St., Watsontown.
Each location is first come, first served.
For more information on CSO’s pantries, visit its food assistance page.
