Summer Food Challenge To Help Struggling Bucks County Families

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — Due to the generosity of people throughout Bucks County, Gene and Marlene Epstein have announced that they will increase their donation to the Bucks County Opportunity Council's Food program to $25,000 if the community is able to raise $100,000 through August 5. Donations are already past $20,500.

“No one has to look too far to see how those on a fixed incomes are sacrificing just to get by,” says Bucks County philanthropist Gene Epstein. “Too many people are food insecure. Too many people can just about afford to put food on their table. Too many people are in need, and we must do everything we can to help them.”

With inflation driving food prices up as much as eight percent, BCOC reports seeing a rise in visitors to its food distributions at Fresh Connect, and to the local food pantries in its network.

In May, Bucks County food pantries served a unique 3,141 households, 12 percent of whom was their first visit to a food pantry in the BCOC network. Comparing January 2022 to May 2022, Bucks County food pantries saw a 38 percent increase in visits. There were 5,119 visits in January which grew to 7,060 visits in May.

BCOC’s Fresh Connect program saw a 13 percent increase in visitors, last quarter. This past month, the collaborative raised the income requirements for this program from 200 percent of federal poverty income guidelines (FPIG), up to 300 percent FPIG. That means a family of four making less than $95,738 annually can now utilize this free resource.

“When inflation hits, families often reduce their monthly food budget to pay for other higher cost needs like rent and utilities. They often turn to turn to pantries and other food supplement programs to make ends meet,” says Erin Lukoss, BCOC Executive Director. “We are so grateful to Gene and Marlene Epstein for their support, and constant efforts to help us continue to provide resources to the Bucks County community.”

As the lead anti-poverty, non-profit agency in Bucks County, the mission of BCOC is to reduce poverty, and partner with our community to promote economic self-sufficiency. For more than 55 years, the Opportunity Council has served low-income families in Bucks County by helping them to stabilize when in crisis, garner resources to achieve a livable wage, gain additional education and training, and work towards economic self-sufficiency.