Share’s Home Delivery Program Grew 300% in 2022

Home delivery now brings free Senior Food Boxes directly to over 3,500 seniors in the Greater Philadelphia area

Share Food Program is Pennsylvania’s largest distributor of the state’s Senior Food Box Program (SFBP), connecting 7,300+ folks in Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties with monthly 30-pound boxes of food through pickups at sites and home deliveries. This current caseload is the largest it has been since Share began administering Pennsylvania’s SFBP in 2015. 

According to John Sudolsky, director of Senior Programs at Share, this increase in reach is mainly a result of expanding home delivery capacity. Growing the home delivery program has allowed Share to provide boxes to seniors who are not able to make it to Senior Food Box pickups at one of the 117 partner sites, and otherwise would not be able to access the food they need.

Through building partnerships and adding new staff to the program at Share, we’ve been able to deliver to more than 3,500 people per month. There are so many more people we can reach now that would not have been possible to reach before—we’ve even made home delivery work in rural areas like Chester County. Before home delivery, I’m not sure what other options folks would have for such reliable and direct access to nutritious food. The people that go out of their way to thank us, they always say, ‘this is like a miracle that you are able to get directly to us.’

John Sudolsky, director of Senior Programs at Share Food Program

Home Delivery is “the future of food security for seniors”

In 2023, Share’s Senior Food Box Program is planning to sustain and strengthen partnerships with the existing pickup sites while continuing to expand home deliveries. The ultimate goal is for all of the 117 locations currently hosting Senior Food Box pickups to also have access to home delivery services, and for each program involved with home deliveries to have free range to get new sites trained to be able to serve even more people.

Share Food Program brought on Home Delivery Program Coordinator Camille Carr in March 2023, and hopes to build out the staffing capacity specifically for home deliveries within the year. “Ultimately, I am very passionate about building sustainable structures of community care. With home deliveries, it is my sincerest hope that we can provide the region with nourishing food in a timely and trauma-informed manner,” says Carr.

Sign up for a Senior Food Box

The Senior Food Box Program is “always looking to help more people!” Sudolsky says there have been no imposed limits to enrollment yet and he doesn’t expect there to be anytime soon. There are age and income eligibility requirements for the Senior Food Box Program; eligibility is self-declared and no proof of income is required. 

If you or someone you know is interested in receiving a free monthly box of food, you can learn more and sign up on Share Food Program’s Food for Seniors page.