Penn Community Bank Steps Up to Help Neighbors Facing Hunger

Late last year, food insecurity was in the headlines. Many community service organizations experienced government funding cuts, and SNAP benefits were temporarily halted during the federal government shutdown.

Employees of $3 billion-asset Penn Community Bank in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, realized that hunger was a problem for many people in the five eastern Pennsylvania counties the mutual savings bank serves. They decided the bank could help make a difference.

In November, Penn Community Bank launched Operation Greater Good Food Drive, a six-week effort that combined a traditional food drive with cash and gift card donations to community members in need. 

“We said, ‘Hey, why don’t we make something that was old new again?’ The good old-fashioned food drive,” says Bernard Tynes, Penn Community Bank’s executive vice president, chief consumer banking officer and executive director of the Penn Community Bank Foundation. “It all really began with our team members.”

Tynes says Penn Community Bank’s service area—Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, North Hampton and Lehigh Counties—comprises the Philadelphia metro area and “is one of the wealthier areas of Pennsylvania, yet food insecurity is at an all-time high. Some of our [bank employees] were participating in a corporate social responsibility event, and they came back to leadership and said, ‘Hey, we want to do something that feels very grassroots to support the food insecurity challenges that our neighbors and friends are facing.’”

Bank leaders agreed, and a week later, Operation Greater Good Food Drive—a three-prong initiative to combat food security—was created.

Donate, gather, distribute

Phase one of Operation Greater Good Food Drive was the food drive itself, with 22 of the community bank’s branches designated as collection sites. Customers were contacted via email and informational flyers in the branch, encouraging them to donate nonperishable items such as canned vegetables, soups, pasta, rice and cereals.

Penn Community Bank’s facilities team then gathered donations and moved them to two central locations, where they could be distributed to food banks in the markets the bank serves. 

“We wanted ... to make sure that the food was distributed locally and not sent to a distribution center that would take it outside of the markets we serve,” says Tynes.

The second prong of Operation Greater Good Food Drive was a $10,000 donation to the Bucks County Opportunity Council, an agency that provides food assistance to about 60,000 individuals in the county through affiliated food pantries and a fresh produce distribution system. The money was earmarked for bulk food purchase, specifically perishable items that are difficult to gather in a food drive.

“We met often with our [fresh food distribution partners] through this time period, and we heard from them that their greatest challenges were making sure that people had protein and fresh produce, as well as dairy,” says Erin Lukoss, executive director of the Bucks County Opportunity Council. “So, we were able to use the $10,000 to bulk purchase several thousand pounds of food and get that out right away.” 

For the final prong of Operation Greater Good Food Drive, Penn Community Bank donated grocery store gift cards to food banks, which distributed them to families with urgent needs. Tynes says several other businesses in the area partnered with Penn Community Bank to donate grocery gift cards, amplifying the program’s efforts.

Long-term commitment to community support

One food donation recipient was Keystone Opportunity Center, an agency in Souderton, Pennsylvania, that connects residents with housing, education and food support, as well as case management services. Brandon Trombetta, the organization’s executive director, says Operation Greater Good Food Drive is just one example of Penn Community Bank’s commitment to the residents of the area.

“Penn Community Bank takes its partnerships with nonprofit organizations that support the community very seriously,” says Trombetta. “Their guidance, their willingness to get involved and benefit the communities they serve is honestly second to none. With a lot of corporate partnerships, they begin and end it with donations being given to the nonprofit organization. But with Penn Community Bank, that’s just the beginning of it.

“This program shows that banks can be ultra responsive to the needs of the community,” Trombetta adds. “And I think that’s a very, very important thing to telegraph in the times that we’re living in.”

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