LANCASTER COUNTY FOOD HUB

Since 1947, the Lancaster County Food Hub (LCFH) has served the most needy and marginalized members of our society as well as the working poor struggling to make ends meet. The overarching goal of our organization is to help fill the gap for these individuals and families by providing services in four key areas. They are Food, Clothing, Shelter.

The Hub has seen a significant rise in requests over the last few years, and in response to the increased demand purchased and renovated a 27,000 square foot warehouse in downtown Lancaster in 2014/2015.

Housed in this warehouse is a 7500 square foot Food Hub that serves as the largest food distribution sight direct to individuals in Lancaster County. In 2022 over 31,000 people came to the Hub to receive food and the need continues to rise.

The Hub also operates the largest free Clothing Bank in our area and holds the contract to operate the PA Workwear program in Lancaster County. The PA Workwear Program works in conjunction with Career Link to provide interview-appropriate attire for individuals preparing for a job interview. After they have secured employment, they receive three complete outfits as well as proper footwear if needed, such as steel-toed boots, nurse’s shoes, and non-skid shows. The clothing bank is open to anyone and is available individuals to come every 60 days.

Additionally, the Hub has a fully stocked Hygiene Bank, which provides all toiletry items and laundry detergent for clients once a month.

The Welcome Center Emergency Shelter and Transition Center are an integral part of our efforts to help homeless, low-income, and at-risk guests transition to more stable life circumstances. For 365 days per year, the Hub operates these two programs in response to the community’s continued need for a secure, continuous, low-barrier homeless shelter space, and a new daytime, life transition center will provide outreach services and social services agency ‘navigation’ support.

As an organization, we operate with a large core of volunteers and a small paid staff of 8 full-time and12 part-time. Through this business model, we can leverage our operational dollars into funding the services we provide rather than need to use them for large overhead expenses.

Through our commitment to meet the needs of the food insecure individuals in our community the numbers of people we provide free food to has increased 63% from 2015 -2018 and growth continues 2019. We have expanded our donation partners that we pick food up from to add an even wider assortment of food to distribute as well as an increased quantity. Currently, every individual who comes to our organization for food receives about 65 pounds of food valued between $150 -$200 and all food orders focus on fresh and healthy items like milk, meat, eggs, and fresh produce. In 2022, we handled almost 1.1 million pounds of food the number rises as the need in Lanaster County rises.

The Clothing bank also shows significant growth, serving over 11,000 individuals in 2022. To meet the demand we have added additional display rounds to our space as well as even more diverse specialty items such as Halloween costumes, school uniforms, and prom gowns.

The Welcome Place overnight and daytime shelters serve as the primary source for homeless and at-risk individuals to find services: obtaining new government documents, food, and clothing; referrals to partner overnight shelters; medical, mental health, and addiction services; and searching for jobs and housing. It is a trauma-informed and client-centered approach that builds relationships with our clients. This then allows our staff to build relationships and offer trusted, next-step solutions and provide a warm hand-off to partner agencies and yielding better results in the long term.

Added new food donation partners.
Increased variety of food distributed.
Met ongoing increased demand for services.
Found wholesale produce partners to meet demand.
Partnership with Penn Medicine LGH for Food Farmacy in conjunction with area medical centers.
Continue important work with Street Outreach and daytime shelter to move the most at-risk and homeless to more stable life circumstances.