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of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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    PA Hunger-Free Campus & PA EmpowerU

    Food Resources for Institutional Leaders

    Food and clothing are vital components when addressing student basic needs. Food insecurity for college students is not a new phenomenon. The pandemic demonstrated that more effort was required to meet the true needs of all learners. It's been noted that roughly 52% of students have faced hunger while attending college.

    Food Insecurity Resources for Institutional Leaders

    Pennsylvania Hunger-Free Campus Initiative

    Hunger Free Campus is a state program designed to guide food resource support on college campuses in the Commonwealth. The PA Hunger-Free Designation officially lists participating school as having plans to fight hunger on their campus. Designated institution can apply for yearly grants to support funding.

    COMPASS

    COMPASS is an online tool that combines many of the health and human services available for those who qualify. Campuses can sign up to be a PA Compass Partner

    State Food Purchase Program (SFPP)

    Pennsylvania leads the country in providing food assistance for the needy under the SFPP. This program provides cash grants to counties for the purchase and distribution of food to low-income individuals.

    Local Food Banks

    Feeding Pennsylvania and Hunger-Free Pennsylvania member food banks offer food assistance services in each county through a network of nearly 3,000 local charitable partners — including food pantries, soup kitchens, feeding programs, and shelters. Because they specialize in resourcing food products on a large scale, local food banks can often provide more food per dollar than buying independently. Please contact them directly for assistance in supplying food pantries on campus.

    Food Recovery Network Pennsylvania

    List of active chapters at Pennsylvania colleges and universities

    Food Recovery Network is the largest student-led movement fighting to end food waste and hunger in America. A national network of 4,000 students, alumni, dining providers, national partners and local businesses works to recover food from campus dining halls, food vendors, restaurants, and farms which would otherwise have gone to waste, to help feed the nearly 42 million people who experienced hunger.

    Chester County Food Bank Food Rescue

    Serving Chester County

    Chester County Food Bank Food Rescue partners with commercial businesses such as wholesalers and manufacturers to rescue food and produce. The rescued donations become available for a variety of reasons such as overproduction, mislabeling, or complications with delivery.

    Rolling Harvest Food Rescue

    Serving Bucks and Montgomery Counties

    Since 2010, Rolling Harvest has been focused on partnering with local farmers, making it easy for them to share their fresh, healthy produce with the food-insecure communities in which they live. Dedicated volunteers help with daily pick-up and delivery schedules from 43 farms and food producers, assist with weekly distributions to more than 80 hunger relief sites, and harvest directly from partners' fields.

    412 Food Rescue

    Serving Greater Pittsburgh

    412 Food Rescue partners with food retailers, volunteer drivers, and nonprofit organizations to connect surplus food with individuals and families who are experiencing food insecurity. With the help of thousands of volunteers — known as Food Rescue Heroes — 412 Food Rescue is able to rescue perfectly good, but unsellable food that would otherwise be wasted and redirect it to people who need it.

    Food Connect Group

    Serving Greater Philadelphia

    Food Connect Group's mission is to bridge the gap between surplus food and hunger. They do this by rescuing excess food from local restaurants and food vendors, and delivered it to community organizations in need.

    Sharing Excess

    Serving Greater Philadelphia

    Sharing Excess' mission is to bridge the gap between excess and food scarcity by partnering with grocery stores, restaurants, wholesalers, and farmers to deliver surplus food to a network of nonprofits, food banks, and community organizations to alleviate local food insecurity.

    Breadcoin

    Breadcoin is proud to collaborate with local community partners that have been serving their neighborhoods for decades. The Breadcoin token provides these local partners with a food budget to provide a meal to those in need, and Breadcoins can be used as incentives for students or clients, or simply to bring people together. You can point those you serve to our participating restaurants when they need a meal, or you can use the coins to host events (always more successful when food is served!). Check out this video to learn more about Breadcoin.