Patch Holiday Food Drive In Delco: Give To Feeding America

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, predicted this would happen as millions of Americans lost their jobs, their paychecks and even their businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic: Hunger is an urgent problem for about 78,000 people in Delaware County.

You can help. Patch and Feeding America teamed last summer to address the growing hunger crisis in America, connecting readers with the organization’s 200 member food banks that serve 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, and providing an easy way to donate money to help their neighbors.

Now through Dec. 31, we’re encouraging readers to make a tax-deductible contribution to Feeding America in the Patch Holiday Food Drive. Every $1 given to the organization buys 10 meals.

Local resources include:

• Fresh For All Christ Lutheran — 7240 Walnut St., Upper Darby
• Christ Lutheran Church — 7240 Walnut St., Upper Darby
• Multicultural Family Services — 7016 Terminal Square, Ste 3a, Upper Darby
• Prayer Chapel Cogic — 7099 Locust St., Upper Darby
• Society Of Saint Vincent De Paul — 1101 Main St., Darby
• Collingdale Church Of The Nazarene — 212 Macdade Boulevard, Collingdale
• Salvation Army Darby — 22 North 9th St., Darby
• Fresh For All Mount Zion Cme Church — 701 Felton Ave., Sharon Hill
• Mount Zion Cme Church — 701 Felton Ave, Sharon Hill
• Loaves And Fishes — 703 Lincoln Ave., Prospect Park
• Lifewerks/Fc — 25 Cedar Road, Wallingford
• Neighbor To Neighbor Community Development — 814 Clifton Ave., Sharon Hill
• Delaware County Housing Authority — 1855 Constitution Ave., Woodlyn
• Faith Community Church — 3515 Edgmont Ave., Brookhaven
• Salvation Army Chester Corps — 151 West 15th St., Chester
• Episcopal Place Park Row — 421 W. 24th St., Upland
• True Vine Fgb — 701 Morton Ave., Chester
• Chester Eastside Inc. — 301 E. 9th St., Chester
• Upland Baptist Church — 325 Main St., Upland
• Catholic Social Services Delaware County — 130 East 7th St., Chester
• Fresh For All-chester High School — 232 W. 9th St., Chester
• Cityteam Ministries — 634 Sproul St., Chester
• Saint Paul Cme Church — 1009 West 3rd St., Chester
• Saint Katharine Drexel — 408 W. 2nd St., Chester
• Saint Daniel's United Methodist Church — 315 Edwards St., Chester
• Better Living Center — 501 Yarnall St., Chester

Feeding America predicted last summer that 50 million people, including 17 million children, could face hunger by year’s end because of the pandemic. Feeding America projects the food insecurity rate in Delaware County will rise to 13.9 percent in 2020, up from 9.4 percent in 2018.

Feeding America says that 80 percent of its food banks — or 4 in 5 — are serving more people than they were at the same time last year. With the pandemic worsening during the holiday season, many people who never before worried about how they’d pay for a holiday meal are turning to food banks for the first time.

From the beginning of the pandemic in March, Feeding America distributed 4.2 billion meals — enough to provide every U.S. resident with breakfast, lunch and dinner for just over four days.

In the first four months of the pandemic, 4 in 10 people were first-time visitors to food banks, according to Feeding America.