
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
To respectively serve area residents in need while empowering them toward food security and independence.
Board Chair Update: August 2025
Even as we continue to work to improve our fresh food offerings, work begins to prepare for our holiday distributions. We are planning two Thanksgiving distributions in November as well as our Annual Holiday Dinner in December. The December distribution will provide food, toys, coats, and clothing for 300+ families. Check out this short video for a glimpse into a holiday distribution at the Pantry.
In contrast to recent trends—which saw need nearly double over the past four years—our growth in families served has leveled off. Even more encouraging, 9% of registered families no longer require our services after receiving support during their time of greatest need.
We’ve also seen growing interest in the supportive services available at our distributions. A wider range of partner agencies is now regularly on-site, providing resources to help individuals achieve independence. Each month, we hear of new employment successes, and a recent budgeting workshop led by M&T Bank was fully booked and had 100% attendance—even better turnout than our Christmas toy giveaways!
Despite these positive developments, the need remains great. We’ve already served over 7,400 individuals in 2025, and nearly 80 new families have registered this year. Many are facing urgent crises—eviction, utility shut-offs, auto repairs, and more. Unfortunately, the "cash resources" of many supporting organizations are running low.
While 72% of our food supply comes from private donations, public food assistance is becoming increasingly uncertain. Proposed reductions in SNAP and Medicaid benefits could lead to even greater demand in the second half of the year.
Thanks to our sponsors, donors, and volunteers, our 100% volunteer organization continues to impact our community in many ways, including:
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Providing eligible clients with approximately one week’s worth of food each month including meat, dairy, fruit, produce, canned goods, cereal, peanut butter, fruit juice, prepared foods, and kids’ bags, as well as laundry detergent and personal items.
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Meeting emergency food needs generally within 24 hours (in addition to our large twice monthly distributions).
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Registering nearly 2,500 unique families—with approximately 30% achieving food independence!
In our quest to help the most vulnerable population segments within the Twin Valley School District, each month we consistently serve:
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Between 475 and 500 children.
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More than 200 seniors.
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50 homebound families.
Providing our clients with healthy food
We serve 130 children through our Kids’ Backpack Program. And in summer months, we provide these kids with kid food boxes filled with ready-to-eat and easy-to-prepare foods.
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Our Nutritional Supplement Program supports the needs of children newborn through age 3—when proper development is most critical. Nearly 80 families receive specialized foods, instructions, educational materials, and counseling—in addition to diapers, wipes, clothes, and books.
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We support our clients with diabetes with specialty foods and health education each month.
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Our Taste It Team regularly prepares meal and snack items targeted to children.
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Our Garden for Life Program grows fresh vegetables distributed at the pantry.
Supporting our clients' overall health
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We offer clients up to 6 personal items at each distribution. We typically offer deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, feminine hygiene products, adult diapers, shaving cream and razors, and toothpaste and brushes.
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We offer healthy cooking demonstrations and ingredients at every distribution.
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Our onsite medical testing now features a dental consultation and referral every other month.
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The Honey Brook Lion’s Club visits regularly to provide vision tests for children age 11 and younger.
Helping clients achieve independence
Progress is underway on the second part of our mission—driving independence. We continue to bring new resources to the pantry, including a new resource, Chester County Human Services (211). In addition:
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We provide employment support—a program that continues to gain momentum—through job leads, CareerLink, and client HR consultations.
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We host Legal Aid monthly to help the families we serve with a wide range of legal questions.
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We helped prepare and submit 177 successful mobile home tax appeals in the past year alone. These appeals save our clients nearly $1,000 per household in taxes each year.
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Clothing Closet from Anchored Ministries visits monthly offering nearly 1,000 free items during each visit.
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We provide a “free market” at every distribution that includes new and gently used toys, books, clothes, furniture, and household items.
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We give each child up to 3 new toys each December. In addition, we distribute hundreds of new and gently used coats each December.
Additional services and resources
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We've enhanced our core onsite resources, including:
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Medical and dental services
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Utility support
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Clothing van
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Transportation information
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Flu shots
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Vision testing
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Haircuts
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Assistance with Medicaid and SNAP, as well as the Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC).
Bringing holiday smiles to our clients
To ensure that our clients' holidays are as special as they are, we host these annual events.
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NEW in 2024: Thanksgiving distribution. This past year, we provided 345 households with a ham and side dishes suitable for Thanksgiving.
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Holiday giveaway. In December, we provided 1,131 individuals from 332 families with a complete Christmas dinner. We also provided toys for more than 400 children. We also supplied clients with more than 600 coats and assorted winter wear.
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Easter dinner distribution. In 2024, we provided a complete Easter dinner to 940 individuals from 295 families (a 20% increase from 2023). And the Easter Bunny joined us, handing out goodies for the kids!
Your help makes all of this possible!
Many thanks to all our sponsors, donors, and volunteers.
With your continued support, we’re committed to doing whatever it takes to meet the needs of those we serve. Our efforts continue full speed ahead, starting with Backpacks and School Supplies on July 23rd (we served nearly 200 students last year), Kids' Food Boxes throughout the summer, and the ramp-up to our expanding holiday programs.
Providing high-quality, healthy food each month costs over $40,000, and we know it may take even more as needs continue to rise. But we have great confidence in the generosity of our friends.