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The charitable food system consists of a number of individual churches that sponsor soup kitchens or food pantries. The kitchens focus on providing a meal for a person at set times and days, while the pantries provide bags of food for needy people to bring home to use. All pantries receive their food either from direct donations or by purchasing, for an extremely nominal fee, food from the South Central PA Food Bank. Most pantries require a voucher which then authorizes a person to receive groceries from them.
Christ Church functions in the charitable food system as a gatekeeper. We are obligated to request a credible identity, screen for income eligibility and issue the vouchers that are necessary to access a variety of neighborhood food pantries.
Every Monday through Thursday, from 9AM to 12 noon, Church volunteers distribute vouchers and maintain the required paperwork. In 1997, 20-30 vouchers per month were provided. Today, an average of 700 vouchers are provided each month.
Volunteers for this part of the Health Ministry are urgently needed.
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