Second Harvest Food Bank has been distributing food to the northwestern counties of Pennsylvania for decades, but never quite like this.
A new, roughly 400-square-foot marketplace that has been in the works for nearly two years, has opened, tucked into the UPMC Health Plan Neighborhood Center at 803 East Ave. Right now, it allows 30 families a week to shop in the space, stocked with fresh food, dry goods and household staples.
Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Greg Hall called this “a pretty big deal” for the organization.
“We’re so excited,” he said about the official opening Jan. 14. The store had its soft opening in October, serving clients and getting the bugs worked out of the system.
“This is in the middle of a food desert,” Hall said. “There are only two places in this neighborhood to buy food, and they’re both convenience stores.”
Access to other services in same building
Hall said one of the best things about the store is that clients who come for food can also get access to other services in the same building, such as mental health care, workforce development and assistance out of domestic violence situations.
“People might skip a mental health appointment, but they won’t skip the opportunity to get food,” Hall said. Once they’re at the store, they can connect with other services they might need.
He said research of the area convinced everyone involved, including UPMC, that the need was there. “We knew there was a need, but we were surprised how high the need was,” Hall said.
The project was funded in large part by a $100,000 grant from Emerging Erie, a group that is part of the Erie Community Foundation.
“It’s beautiful,” said Katie Golembeski, chair of the EE fund. “It turned out even better than we expected,” she added. “The membership is excited.”
She said Emerging Erie is made up of about 100 members who pay $100 to be part of it, and they also get sponsorships from businesses and community leaders. They started five years ago and gave their first grant of $5,000 that year. This is the first year they’ve been able to give $100,000 and that is their standard going forward.
Carrie Whitcher, UPMC chief quality officer for the health plan, supervises the services in the building. She said it opened in July.
“We know that access to good nutritious food leads to better outcomes,” Whichter said, adding that the health plan and the Hamot Health Foundation both contributed to the project. “They’re help made this come to fruition.”
The store doesn’t just offer food, she said, adding that they also offer nutrition coaching and cooking classes, informational handouts and more.
Hall said he hopes to grow the ditribution from three days a week and 30 families a day to a full five-day week.
“We’re scaling up to that,” he said.
Second Harvest board president Doug Starr marveled at the change in the building from the first tour.
“This is unbelievable,” he said. “It’s a new thing for Second Harvest. Change can be scary but it’s unbelievably rewarding.”
