Share Food Program Inc

Target demographics: SHARE supplies 550 Philadelphia County food pantries that provide food to people living in households with incomes of 185 percent of the poverty level or less. Among our recipients are 88,765 children, 97,128 adults and 37,328 seniors. In addition SHARE also operates a discount food co-op open to anyone who is doing two hours or more of any volunteer work a month. For $20 dollars, a basic SHARE package includes frozen meats, fresh produce and assorted shelf stable items. Co-op food is cheaper than food from grocery stores and SHARE accepts EBT and Farmers' Market Nutrition Checks.

Direct beneficiaries per year: In 2008, we provided food to 223,221 unduplicated individuals living in 83,609 households.

Geographic areas served: PA, NJ, Metro NYC, DE, Eastern shore of MD

Programs: Emergency food relief - share is a high-impact nonprofit organization, recognized for its strong leadership role in reducing hunger and increasing access to healthy, affordable food. Last year, share distributed over 21. 5 million pounds of emergency food relief to 505 philadelphia county food pantries, helping an average of 572,006 people each month. This number has increased 25% in just the past three years, as more families face hunger. Share's food cupboard partners serve our region's most vulnerable citizens: 100% live in poverty, 39% are children and 11% are elderly. Share is committed to meeting the increased need for emergency food relief.

community food programs - share is committed to expanding access to affordable, wholesome food through core community programs. These include our cooperative share package program, which offers healthy, low-cost food, and promotes community volunteerism and our nice roots farm, which broadens community access to affordable, healthy and local produce. Share fosters effective coalitions to reduce food poverty, and actively partners with community, civic and faith-based leaders to create a strong regional response to hunger.