In a year marked by rising need and system strain, community groups across Greater Philadelphia showed how collaboration and coordination can strengthen food access during challenging moments. 

From facilitating school-based food distribution to expanding food as medicine programs, Food Connect Greater Philadelphia is grateful to be collaborating with community-based organizations and institutions to help families bring home nutritious food with consistency. 

As we close out the year, we’re sharing a few stories and highlights that reflect what our community accomplished together. Thank you for following and supporting Food Connect Greater Philadelphia!

The Impact of Multi-Sector Partnerships 

At CHOP Primary Care Sunnybrook in Pottstown, children receive more than routine care; they and their caregivers take part in hands-on wellness activities, including cooking, nutrition education, and gardening with hydroponic towers. This programming is supported by deliveries of fresh produce, pantry staples and recipes that help families bring healthy meals to life at home.

When CHOP identified a growing need for nutritious food access in Pottstown, they partnered with Food Connect Greater Philadelphia to extend the Food as Medicine program that has been instrumental in enhancing food security for families at CHOP Norristown for the last four years. With generous financial support from the W. W. Smith Charitable Trust, the 6-month program provided bi-weekly home-delivered food boxes for Sunnybrook families, removing transportation barriers and helping households consistently bring home fresh, healthy food.

What stands out most is how engaged families are in the Food as Medicine program. Seeing children take interest in nutrition and caregivers gain confidence in preparing healthy meals reflects just how meaningful this support is for the community. - Tori Armstrong, Community Health Programs Coordinator of CHOP Sunnybrook. 

This collaboration shows what’s possible when healthcare providers, local organizations and community-oriented funders work together to strengthen food access for families. We’re grateful to be celebrating the impact of this and many other collaborative partnerships across Greater Philadelphia in 2025.

More highlights from 2025

Bringing Fresh Food to Every Community School

‍In partnership with the City of Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office of Education and Sharing Excess, Food Connect Greater Philadelphia helped expand the One Philly Produce Project in its second successful year. Thanks to financial support from Aramark, the program now brings fresh fruits and vegetables every week to all Philadelphia Community Schools across the city. Sharing Excess provides rescued produce, we handle transportation and delivery and school staff and volunteers distribute food to families. This partnership helps thousands of Philadelphia residents have reliable access to healthy food, distributed at the schools where their children learn and grow. Read more.

Trader Joe’s Partnership Expansion‍

Growing on our years-long collaboration with Trader Joe’s grocery stores, Food Connect Greater Philadelphia launched two new partnerships with stores in Berwyn and Exton, PA. In the first month of the program, each store donated 30,000 pounds of produce and groceries which we delivered to local pantries serving residents across Montgomery and Chester Counties. Altogether, the food we picked up from all of our partnerships with Trader Joe’s stores in 2025 was the equivalent to providing 300 families of four with a full year of meals.

Increasing Access Through Healthcare Partnerships

‍The CHOP Food Pharmacy program reached its highest level of impact to date in 2025. Through weekly home delivery, Food Connect Greater Philadelphia supported the program’s two-tier model: a one-time dry-goods bag to offer immediate assistance for newly enrolled families followed by monthly fresh produce boxes delivered to households across Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties. In November alone, Food Connect delivered fresh food boxes to 847 families, helping ensure every household enrolled could rely on consistent access to nutritious food. This partnership continues to reduce barriers for families facing food insecurity by pairing medical care with dependable access to healthy food.

Advocating for a Coordinated Crisis Response

‍As a member of the Philadelphia City Council Food and Nutrition Security Task Force, Food Connect Greater Philadelphia Senior Regional Director, Kate Colyer testified at a hearing in November when SNAP benefits were delayed. Kate described the critical role of last-mile food delivery, especially in times of crisis, and expressed our support of direct payments for people, coordinated data-informed response plans and accessible funding for community groups. This crisis helped highlight the system-level gaps families face and the collaborative solutions needed to strengthen long-term food access across the region. Read more about our response to this crisis.

Overall, 2025 proved to be a year of remarkable growth for Food Connect Greater Philadelphia. Working alongside 29 community-based partners, we delivered an average of 170,000 pounds of food each month, with a dramatic rise to more than 250,000 pounds in November when we launched two new programs and responded to emergency transportation needs from partners. On average, this was the equivalent of distributing about 4,800 nutritious meals every day to people across the region!

Looking Ahead and Staying Connected

Together with partners and community members across the region, Food Connect Greater Philadelphia will continue building a food system that is more reliable, more compassionate and more accessible in the year ahead.

Support our work: Every ten dollars helps provide up to twenty meals. Donate

Stay informed: Follow us on social media. Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook | X (Twitter)

Stay informed and spread the word: Sign up for our newsletter and invite your colleagues and friends to do the same.