{"id":21029,"date":"2025-10-31T18:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/21029\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:05:08","slug":"lehigh-valley-united-way-community-foundation-raising-500000-to-aid-food-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/21029\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Valley United Way, Community Foundation raising $500,000 to aid food access"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his 18 years at New Bethany<\/a>, a nonprofit organization in Bethlehem that provides support for people experiencing poverty, hunger and homelessness, Mark Riddle says he never saw such a dire situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re missing staples,\u201d he said Friday morning. \u201cWe don\u2019t have peanut butter, and it\u2019s the first time that we haven\u2019t had rice, cereal and pasta. Even canned proteins, like a hearty soup or canned chicken, that kind of thing \u2026. these are all things that we normally have either through private donations or through the Feeding America system like Second Harvest Food Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riddle said people are stocking up on supplies because, come Saturday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will not distribute SNAP food benefits to people who qualify for them<\/a>. The USDA has said it does not have enough funding to pay out the $8 billion monthly cost of food stamps due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n

In response, the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley<\/a> and the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation<\/a> have launched the Critical Support Fund to address immediate needs.<\/p>\n

According to the United Way, the main focus of this fund will be to support emergency food access. The goal is to raise $500,000 to keep shelves stocked for at least three months and make sure the food is distributed where it\u2019s needed most.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith over 40% of Greater Lehigh Valley residents living paycheck to paycheck, funding pauses to programs like SNAP have led to greater food insecurity,\u201d the organizations said in a statement. \u201cAt the same time, many of our region\u2019s social service providers are struggling to keep up with the need and have not been able to access funding that typically supports food access programs. Currently, just over 106,000 people receive SNAP benefits in the Greater Lehigh Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley CEO Marci Lesko said after food access, there will be focus on low income energy assistance for heating through the winter and emergency shelter. Funds to LIHEAP, a program that helps with energy costs, also have been delayed due to the shutdown.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the most urgent priority in front of us right now is around food,\u201d Lesko said. \u201cWe also know that people are going to need assistance like energy assistance. And we know that some of the changes related to LIHEAP and some of the changes related to energy, like support funds around energy assistance, have already been depleted ahead of the winter months. There\u2019s also a lot of need around shelter and emergency housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funds will be distributed for immediate relief, with the Critical Food Providers Action Team, a group of local charitable food leaders.<\/p>\n

Lesko said the funds will be used for the purchase of bulk food, which goes further than individual food donations. She added that the haste in getting funds distributed is not only for the lack of SNAP benefits, but also for a potential cut back in WIC benefits beginning in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will create a need that we\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we need to move quickly. We will begin here, and we suspect more people will want to provide support as we go, but we\u2019ve got to start somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initial funding partners include: Dexter F. & Dorothy H. Baker Foundation, Capitol Blue Cross, Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management LLC, First Commonwealth Credit Union, the Garrigan Foundation, Just Born Quality Confections, LeCompte Realty, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, Stephen Link and Family Fund, Marcon Family Fund, The Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation, Dan and Lucinda McCarthy, Olympus Corporation of the Americas, PPL Foundation, Teamsters Local 773, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Andrea and Angelo Valletta and Valley National Financial Advisors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what community looks like in action,\u201d said Erika Riddle Petrozelli, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation. \u201cThis effort is also a powerful example of what can happen when funders, nonprofit leaders and donors come together with urgency and purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Bethany\u2019s Riddle said that with increased dependence on food banks and other nonprofits, more volunteers also are needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have more people coming in, then that means that we need to pay staff to be able to help everyone in the dining room,\u201d he said. \u201cIt also means New Bethany has 150 volunteers and to make our food programs work effectively, we need to keep up the volunteer base as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that while any help is appreciated, volunteers who can regularly help out are especially wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of ways that people can help,\u201d Riddle said. \u201cThe financial part will buy food, it helps with staffing, but we also have a huge opportunity at New Bethany, and I imagine other pantries across the Valley, for people to step up and volunteer right now, especially in light of the holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to help<\/p>\n

Donors may contribute online at www.unitedwayglv.org\/donate<\/a> (Select \u201cCritical Support Fund\u201d) and on Lehigh Valley Community Foundation\u2019s website by clicking: Bridge Fund for Critical Support<\/a>. Donations can also be made via mail with checks payable to UWGLV, 1110 American Parkway NE, Suite F-120, Allentown, Pa. 18109 \u2014 attention \u201cCritical Support Fund,\u201d or to Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, 840 W. Hamilton Street, Suite 310, Allentown, Pa. 18101 \u2014 attention \u201cBridge Fund for Critical Support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food and diaper donations can be directed to the following hubs: Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley, Easton Area Neighborhood Center and Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank. Priority food items include: canned proteins, cereals, canned fruits and vegetables, rice, pasta and peanut butter.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact Erin Connelly at United Way at erinco@unitedwayglv.org or Erika Riddle Petrozelli at erika@lvcfoundation.org at the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation.<\/p>\n

Finding help<\/p>\n

To find food and other resources, dial 2-1-1 or 855-567-5341, visit www.pa211.org<\/a> or text your ZIP code to 898-211. PA 211 is a free, confidential service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.<\/p>\n

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his 18 years at New Bethany, a nonprofit organization in Bethlehem that provides support for people experiencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,433,182,139,434,28,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-21029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-lehigh-county","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-northampton-county","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}