BY MARY GRACE KELLER
Times Staff Writer
The newest food pantry in Adams County is on wheels.
New Hope Ministries' (NHM) 28-foot trailer houses a mobile food pantry stocked with baked goods, canned food, fresh produce, refrigerated proteins, and hygiene supplies.
"Everything that's in our pantry is here," said Brent Toomey, gift officer. "It's New Hope on the road."
NHM introduced the mobile food pantry to the New Oxford community at the chamber mixer Wednesday. The mobile pantry carries food stacked on secured shelves, along with a refrigerator, and has extra room for several pallets-worth of additional food and supplies. There's just enough space for a small shopping cart to pass between the shelves and down the ramp to a shopper's car. Everything is covered up and tied down before the mobile food pantry rolls down the road.
Toomey said the new mobile pantry is a huge improvement from NHM's current mobile system.
Bringing a mobile food pantry to one community for a few hours is a full day's work. Two or three box trucks fill up at the Hanover warehouse and drive to East Berlin, Enola, Littlestown, and New Cumberland. The trucks park in church parking lots, then NHM staff and volunteers unload the food, supplies, and shelves to set up a temporary market. At the end of the day, they tear down everything and reload the trucks.
"It's a heavy labor-intensive process," Toomey said.
Each location is visited on a rotating basis once a month and the hours vary, according to Toomey. New Oxford has a brick and mortar food pantry at 120 N. Peter St. at the New Oxford Center. With the new trailer, Toomey said they won't have to waste time loading and unloading supplies anymore. Two volunteers can simply park the trailer, take 30 minutes to set up inside, and open the door.
"Time and labor are the biggest savings," said Director of Development Molly Helmstetter.
The new mobile food pantry has been serving York Springs over the past few months, but Toomey said the goal is to phase out the old mobile system at all locations over the summer. She hopes the "effective and efficient" delivery of food and supplies will allow NHM to expand its reach to more communities.
Toomey said the nonprofit is always looking for innovative ways to help those in need.
"The volunteers are the core to this," Toomey said.
In addition to the mobile food pantry, NHM manages pantries across Adams, Cumberland, and York counties. NHM offers classes on money management, cooking, and nutrition, and workforce development programs.
Donations are especially needed this time of year while children are out of school, according to Toomey. Visit nhm-pa.org to learn about ways to give, and keep an eye out for the colorful mobile food pantry on the road.
