Several area food pantries received funding through the Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding recently visited New Bethany Choice Food Pantry in Bethlehem to announce awards of more than $1.6 million to 40 food banks, pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens across Pennsylvania through The Emergency Food Assistance Program Reach and Resiliency Grants.

The grant awards recognize Hunger Action Month, and demonstrate the Shapiro administration’s commitment to fighting hunger and food insecurity and increasing access to healthy food for Pennsylvanians, wherever they live.

Local recipients include: West End Pantry in Monroe County, $46,585; New Bethany in Northampton County, $28,610; Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA, $40,330 and Schuylkill Community Action, $50,000.

“No one should go hungry in a state with the wealth and bounty we have in Pennsylvania,” Redding said.

“But far too often families do not know where their next meal is coming from and they need our help. Expanding the capacity of organizations like New Bethany to supply fresh, healthy food to families in need is just one part of a broad Shapiro administration strategy to work toward a healthier, more secure Pennsylvania.”

New Bethany is receiving $23,610 to reconfigure the space in its Choice Food Pantry, allowing it to increase cold storage capacity, offer a greater variety of fresh, nutritious food, and more efficiently serve more people in need of food assistance.

TEFAP Reach and Resiliency Grants are being awarded to organizations distributing USDA Foods through TEFAP contracts with the state, county, or a county-designated lead agency.

Funded projects include expanded cold storage, warehouse space and equipment, delivery vehicles for food distribution, and other investments that expand TEFAP’s reach into isolated or underserved rural or low-income communities.

The department will be announcing a second round of TEFAP Reach and Resiliency Grants, with more than $2.5 million in available funding, in October.

According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap, in 2022, more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians, or 8.9% of everyone in the state, and 13% of the state’s children, may not know the source of their next meal.

Find foodbanks, pantries and other resources in your area, plus information on food insecurity and what you can do to help or find help at agriculture.pa.gov/foodsecurity.