Food4Philly Newsletter - July 2023
Read about our news and latest updates.
Hello Food4Philly community!
For those of you who are new to the Food4Philly community… welcome! In this newsletter, we will outline our most recent updates, achievements, and growth. We appreciate your support and interest!
About Us
Food4Philly is a student-run non profit organization based in the greater Philadelphia area, working to alleviate food insecurity while promoting collaboration and inclusivity. Food4Philly works both in traditional food drives and fundraising events, as well as coordinates with restaurants, big and small, in our area to ensure that any food they may potentially waste is instead distributed to those most in need.
Food4Philly was founded by a small group and high schoolers who recruited fellow classmates to help the cause. In being student-run, Food4Philly encourages students and younger people to rise to higher levels of civic responsibility, helping to make a difference in the lives of others.
Food4Philly began as a method of alleviating food insecurity in the greater Philadelphia community. We as an organization have learned and grown, and as we have, new opportunities, connections, and partners have opened up. We have spread throughout the nation, and uncovered just how many people, even globally, could use our help. Our food should not just be for Philly, but instead, for All.
Our Achievements
New Chapters
Food4Philly has been constantly expanding to new schools and even new cities ever since its founding at the Haverford School and Penncrest High School. This past month, this expansion has continued, with some new chapters coming to Food4Philly. Firstly, Serving Chester County and Great Valley Community Club has joined up with Food4Philly. This organization had been previously doing some amazing outreach work to the West of Food4Philly’s main area of operations, primarily in Chester County. In our desire to expand our network, we got into contact with this organization, and they are now an official chapter of Food4Philly!
Much closer to some of our founding schools is Harriton High School, another new Food4Philly chapter. Students Liam Reich and Rory Dasher will be taking the helm for what we hope will be a new and productive arm of our network in and around the Main Line.
New Partnerships
However, we have not just been expanding our network of direct chapters, but have also done a sizable amount of outreach to similar organizations and have begun entering into productive partnerships with many of them.
We have been working towards partnerships with amazing organizations possessing a wide variety in their methods, means, and location: the Lansdowne YMCA, providing not just material aid but also recreation and activities to the less fortunate; the Bethesda Project, focusing on alleviating the problem of homeless and the suffering it entails; the Means Database, an extensive virtual platform for donating food across a sizeable area; the New Day Drop-In Center, which provides a safe and accessible environment for women exploited by the commercial sex industry, run by Salvation Army, as well as the larger New Day to Stop Trafficking organization, dedicated to ending human trafficking while providing aid and support to its victims and survivors; Eldernet of Lower Merion and Narberth, which provides a variety of necessary supplies, ranging from food to medical to household supplies, to the less secure in society, especially the elderly and the disabled; and finally, the Northwest Mutual Aid Collective, a grassroots organization which serves to alleviate food insecurity among a wide range of vulnerable people in Philadelphia’s Northwest section. Food4Philly looks forward to cherishing all of these partnerships!
Expansion/Times Square Ad
However, Food4Philly does not just serve Philadelphia; we run branches outside of the area, ranging from Boston to California. On top of this, we may expand even more in the near future! We have also been working on establishing further branches in California, ranging from Palo Alto to Los Angeles. More immediately, we are finalizing the stages for Food4NYC. In addition, as we’ve been finishing up the preparations, our organization has even been featured in Times Square! Finally, we are making connections across the Atlantic Ocean all the way in London - Food4Philly doesn’t just give aid to Philly, we help all!
Sponsorship
Additionally, we have continued our relationship with Wawa into another year, with Food4Philly once more being chosen for a $1000 grant from the Wawa Foundation, which aims to strengthen the community by donating millions of dollars every year to various charitable organizations. We are incredibly grateful to the organization and hope to continue our relationship even further. If you yourself wish to support Food4Philly, you can direct your donations through either PayPal Giving Fund or Venmo @food4philly. As always, we greatly appreciate your support of our mission.
Free food event at the Azalea Garden in East Fairmount Park
And finally, to cap off the month, we were able to hold a large free food event at the Azalea Garden in East Fairmount Park in West Philly! On July 30th, a team of Food4Philly members, joined by a number of new volunteers, set up tables and tents in the Azalea Garden. Having transported roughly one ton of fresh produce, we, over the course of three to four hours, distributed food ranging from grapes to clementines to cookie dough to plant milk to hundreds of people in the West Philadelphia area. It was a fun and productive afternoon for all involved, and we would like to thank both the volunteers who showed up to help and our generous partners, Sharing Excess, for providing the supplies that we needed to make this whole event happen.
Coming up on Food4Philly...
Here at Food4Philly, we are always looking for ways to grow and improve so that we can carry out our mission of alleviating food insecurity more efficiently.
One way we have sought do to this is by raising awareness and updating our community on our daily happenings through a Podcast channel! The 4Philly podcast has an exciting new lineup of guests coming in the future... so be sure to stay tuned! In addition, as the school year approaches, our team looks to take full advantage of the month of August for holding events and more, which we will advertise on our social media.
With the end of summer approaching, our co-presidents Milan Varma and Reilly Pryma look to shift into their new roles as day-to-day managers of Food4Philly and undertake the responsibilities that come with this title. We hope you are just as excited as us for the next phase of Food4Philly and are forever grateful for the community that supports us and helped us get this far.
Ways to Stay Involved
Here at Food4Philly, we are working hard to raise funds and find partners to give us the necessary recourses and platforms to help as many people as possible. At the same time, donations and contributions from our community are always greatly appreciated as they help us in our mission.
The links below can take you to our donation pages like Venmo, PayPal, and GoFundMe. Thank you for all your kind support!
We would like to remind you that there are many ways you can stay involved with Food4Philly. Please visit our website to learn more about our mission, team members, and accomplishments. Finally, if you're interested in volunteering with us or have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. We would love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for your sustained support of Food4Philly. We are excited to continue making positive changes in our community with your help.
Best regards,
The Food4Philly Team