Shredding Paper Means Sharing Food In Springfield

On Saturday, August 8, 2020 four members of the Springfield community will partner to ‘shred food insecurity.’ The Allstate Foundation, Tom Mallon Allstate Insurance Agency, Toscana Gourmet Pizza, and the Cardinal O’Hara’ Student Organization have partnered to host a Share Food – Shred Paper event.

This event is OPEN to the public. Organizers are asking Springfield and surrounding community residents to bring their unwanted residential papers and paper products to the Cardinal O’Hara parking lot between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on August 8th. In exchange for discarding the unwanted materials, organizers want you to bring non-perishable food to be donated to local food centers. Non-perishable food donations are welcome even if you don’t have anything to shred!!

City Team Chester and The St. Mark’s Food Center in Broomall will help organizers distribute grocery boxes to Delaware County families in need. “Before the pandemic City Team and St. Mark’s played a critical role in the community providing meals, groceries, and infant supplies to county residents who needed a helping hand to make ends meet.” explains Tom Mallon, owner of the Tom Mallon Allstate Insurance Agency in Springfield. “Today, their operations are significantly impacted. City Team is not able to host hot meals at their facility. In addition, the food pantries at both locations can not keep up with the increase in demand.”

“We did some fundraisers earlier in the year.” Says Thomas Mallon, owner of Toscana Gourmet Pizza (and Tom’s son). “but now the situation is getting more serious. According to the Food Centers more families are coming to them for help, but they are having trouble keeping the shelves stocked.”

The goal for this event is to gather more than 2,500 lbs. of food. Tom and Thomas knew that they were going to need some extra help handling all those donations and the Cardinal O’Hara Student Organization stepped up to shred it up.

Food insecurity is a problem in our communities. Students who previously relied on meals at school, families who shopped at food pantries that are now empty, and individuals who counted on hot meal services that are suspended are feeling the impact. Organizers are ready to relieve neighbors of their unwanted paper. With Delaware County’s kindness and support, they also want to stock the shelves of City Team Chester and St. Mark’s Food Center.

This event is OPEN to the public. Donations of non-perishable food and baby items are welcome. For more information, please contact tmallon@allstate.com