Denied funds: Why Bethlehem passed on helping food pantry expand - lehighvalleylive.com

Denied funds: Why Bethlehem passed on helping food pantry expand - lehighvalleylive.com

New Bethany Ministries' food pantry often has to turn away donations of fresh produce and meat because it doesn't have the refrigerated storage space. 

Overflow donations are stored in a garage the Cathedral Church of the Nativity lets them use. All of the storage constraints limit the number of folks the pantry can help. 

That's why the nonprofit has bought a single-family home with a detached garage at 231 W. Fourth St. in South Bethlehem. The house is being renovated into affordable housing. New Bethany wants to turn the garage into a climate-controlled food pantry.

"Our goal is to move away from the emergency food pantry to a place that people can come on a weekly basis if they need to," said Diane Elliott, executive director. 

Dana Pollock, left, and Megan Brown unpack food at the New Bethany Ministries food pantry.lehighvalleylive.com file photo 

The new food pantry is estimated to cost about $245,000 and New Bethany has about half of that committed.

New Bethany applied to the city of Bethlehem for $75,000 of its 2017 Community Development Block Grant award, but the project was not selected. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awards communities the grants each year on an annual basis.

The city is projecting that it will received almost $1.2 million of the grants next year. There are always more deserving applications than available dollars, said Allyson Lysaght, city housing and development planner.

Bethlehem has an internal committee review all of the applications and recommend awards, which Mayor Bob Donchez then endorses. Then the awards go to Bethlehem City Council for review. Council held a hearing on the proposed allocations Oct. 18. but a final vote is not scheduled until Nov. 1.

New Bethany employees and an official from Second Harvest implored city council to review the request and look at what the money could do for the community.

"I really think you need to reconsider this and build up Bethlehem," said Pamela Lewis, case manager of the Restoration House apartments. "That is strengthening up your own community in your own backyard."

This chart shows the proposed allocation of Bethlehem's estimated 2017 Community Development Block grant funding.Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com 

Councilman Bryan Callahan said he wants to help New Bethany out somehow and find funding for them.

"It sounds like they are doing great work for the community," he said.

Council President J. William Reynolds noted council has the ability to reallocate the money. He is open to supporting New Bethany's mission. He suggested that perhaps the city could grant a portion of the $75,000 request.

Anything the city supplies would help, Elliott said.

"We know that we have an impact but we are still only meeting a small amount (of the demand)," she said.

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The new pantry would allows New Bethany to expand its reach from 350 to 400 families a month, who can come in every 30 days and receive three days of food. The pantry only helps about 10 percent of the Bethlehem's food insecure population, which amounts to 10 percent of the total population, Elliott said.

"The people coming in have faces and feelings and they have stories," said Brandy Garofalo, who directs New Bethany's food insecurity services. "And the bottom line is they are hungry and it is my job to make sure they get fed."

Second Harvest Food Bank Director Paul Lynch said his organization works with 200 different agencies that provide food pantries across six counties. New Bethany is the old pantry open to provide emergency food five days a week, he said.

The expansion would mean reaching more of the city's food insecure, they all said.

"We are seeing more and more working poor," said Elliott, adding the families often have difficulty making it to other pantries with more limited hours due to work.

The current food pantry space will be converted into a community area for group counseling sessions, educational and nutritional classes and offer it as public meeting space.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.