Erie County Times

Last week Gov. Tom Wolf, First Lady Frances Wolf and Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding visited the rescue food organization Sharing Excess, where they discussed the efforts made by the Wolf Administration with food security across Pennsylvania.

Sharing Excess is a student movement that started at Drexel University that addresses food insecurity on campus, as well as in the West Philadelphia area, according to a release by Wolf. It started as a college meal-sharing program that now, within three years, has become a network of hundreds of grocers, restaurants, farmers and wholesalers that contribute to millions of pounds of rescued food. The organization delivers 100,000 pounds of food on average per week and uses in-house technology to assist other food rescue organizations.

“Rescuing and redistributing food excess is not only sustainable, but it’s also the right thing for humans to do for one another,” said Sharing Excess Founder and Executive Director Evan Ehlers. “In the United States, we waste more than double the amount of food that’s needed to feed everybody that struggles with food insecurity.”

Since Wolf took office in 2015, he and First Lady Wolf have worked to assist with food access, reduce barriers, eliminate food apartheid, invest in infrastructure for food access and support access to local, nutritional food products.

Some of the Wolf Administration’s efforts have included investing in cold storage infrastructure for food banks; funding the Pennsylvania Agriculture Surplus System; rebranding the Pennsylvania Senior Food Box Program; improving access to nutritious dessert food through the Fresh Food Financing Initiative and PA Farm Bill Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Program; raising income eligibility for Pennsylvanians that receive support for food banks across the state from 150% to 185% to meet needs; and increasing the access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“Since I took office, fighting hunger was a first and foremost priority for Frances and me,” said Wolf. “We put together a blueprint that has worked to improve food access and affordability across the commonwealth. I’m so thrilled that the commonwealth is home to innovative people who share this priority. Together, we can end hunger.”

Wolf’s recently approved budget included an increase for the Pennsylvania Agriculture Surplus System by $2 million, which brings the total budget to $4.5 million. He also secured $1 million for the Hunger Free Campus Initiative, which helps schools create or expand campus foods pantries and food banks, as well as support the 30% of students in college who face food insecurity.

“Sharing Excess meets an incredibly important need, and I am impressed and inspired by how they turned their passion for people into an impactful organization,” First Lady Wolf said. “The thoughtfulness of this operation helps increase food access, saving what would be wasted product, and ultimately fighting food insecurity in Pennsylvania.”

Redding called food a “basic right” and said that it is his duty and responsibility as a public servant to ensure that Pennsylvanians don’t go hungry.

“Governor Wolf has met that challenge head on to take away decisions of paying for bills or putting food on the table,” Redding said.