Sometimes, a failing plan hides its own surprising solution—a blessing in disguise, if you will. For the New Love Center, with its beginnings in 2014 as western Lycoming County’s answer to the loss of its only local food bank, that blessing has turned into one of abundance for people in need. Dave Winkleman, New Love Center’s president, explains.

“Five years after we took the food pantry over, we launched a capital campaign for a new building. A $2.7 million campaign for an 18,000-square-foot-food hub. We were $800,000 into it, when covid shut everything down. By the time we could resume, the cost to build the food hub was $5.4 million.” Dave and the rest of the executive board took it as a sign that this was not the goal for this faith-based community resource. So, the group opted to ask a different question: “How do we get food to people in need?”

The pantry was serving more people than when it had started, but the people who went to the food bank were mostly within five miles of the South Avis location. Freed from the old goal of a new building, the executive committee came up with the idea of taking the food to the people who needed it—people who were not in Williamsport or Lock Haven, who were far from distribution centers. To do that, the New Love Center needed a mobile pantry. And once they made that decision to change direction, a new mission fell into place.

Geisinger was a big early sponsor of the mobile plan, starting with the Muncy and Renovo pantry sites. Less than two years later, there are four more distribution centers—Lairdsville, Cogan House Township, Lock Haven, and Trout Run. (For times, dates, and locations call (570) 244-8838 during normal business hours, or go to thenewlovecenter.com.) Each location gets a visit once a month, and, with the exception of the Lock Haven location, all are over twenty miles from the county seats.

But a mobile pantry takes more than just food. The safe transportation of frozen items, fresh produce, and canned or dry pantry staples calls for a large truck and a walk-through trailer. The New Love Center wanted to recreate the “store experience” that they use at the food pantry on Henry Street in South Avis, where people pick the food they need and use, rather than having a box of food handed to them.

Luckily, they already had a volunteer who could drive this large setup. Bob Fox, who’s been with the mobile pantry from the beginning, was a lineman for thirty years with lots of experience in getting large equipment where it needs to be. As the commitment to and use of the mobile unit grew, that volunteer position became a staff position. As Dave comments, “We just couldn’t afford not to have Bob Fox.”

“I’m thankful for the people we’re reaching—and worry about who we’re missing,” Bob says. He’s dedicated, and he knows the need. “In Trout Run,” he relates, “there was a young woman with a child at the fire hall a few months ago. She got through about half of our trailer and just stopped. Emotionally, she said, ‘You don’t realize—I had hardly any food on Sunday, and wondered and prayed about what to do on Monday. I drove around you three times to make sure you were what you were.’”

Bringing food to the people is not cheap. “The mobile pantry is the most expensive way to deliver food to people in need,” Dave explains. “But it is also the most efficient way we have at this time, reaching people that otherwise would not have food they need.”

The flyer for the New Love Center asks for donations of funds, food, and time. All are necessary, but both Dave and Bob stress the need for volunteers, especially younger people who can help move food into the Henry Street location and the mobile unit. “Our goal for the mobile locations is to have the needed volunteers for distribution waiting for us at the location,” Dave explains. “We’re not there—yet.”

Dave points out that all the pantries are committed to providing nutrient-dense food, not empty calories and carbs. The hubs are stocked with lean proteins, whole grains, and canned and fresh vegetables and fruit. “We buy milk and eggs, so that we have them all the time. The Weis markets flash-freeze meats, so that is available.” Businesses in the area hold food drives for the pantry, and Central Pennsylvania Food Bank supplies the Henry Street location as well as the mobile pantry.

And the New Love Center offers several more programs, beyond the pantries. There is the Fresh Food Farmacy, in conjunction with Geisinger and centered at the Henry Street location. That is a prescription service for people with diabetes and an A1C (A1C is a blood test that monitors glucose) level over eight.

“That’s a person whose diabetes is out of control,” Dave says. He explains that people enrolled in the program, which includes education, recipes, and health coaching, can lower their A1C level, which leads to less medication and better general health. The café at Trinity Methodist Church in Jersey Shore provides a hot meal every day at noon for anyone. There’s the backpack program, for children that do not have enough food on weekends when they are not at school. There are additional boxes for both military and elderly who qualify.

The statistics highlight the progress.

“Seven years ago, we had a budget of $100,000 and helped about 200 families a month,” says Dave. “Now, we help over 1,000 families with a budget of $786,000.” For the small staff at New Love Center, and the army of volunteers, this makes it all worthwhile. Bob stresses, “This is not done without volunteers. We need 800 to 1,000 hours of [volunteer] work done to make this happen.”