Philly Leader

On July 29, Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) and First Lady Frances Wolf met with Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding to visit the rescue food organization, Sharing Excess, highlighting the efforts of the Wolf administration in food security across Pennsylvania.

According to the Official Pennsylvania Government Website, Sharing Excess is a student movement that began at Drexel University, which addresses food insecurity on campus and also in the West Philadelphia area. After three years, it has become a network of grocers, restaurants, farmers and wholesalers that include the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, which has contributed millions of pounds of food. Sharing Excess currently delivers an average of 100,000 pounds of food weekly and also uses in-house technology to assist other food rescue organizations in their work.

“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 (who) struggles with food insecurity.”

Wolf took office in 2015, and since then, he and his wife have worked toward assisting with food access, reducing barriers, eliminating food apartheid, investing in infrastructure to assist in food access, and support access to local, nutritional food products for families in Pennsylvania. 

Some of the 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 who receive support for food banks across the state 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,” Wolf said, according to the Official Pennsylvania Government Website. “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.”

Recently Wolf’s budget was approved, and it included an increase in funding for the Pennsylvania Agriculture Surplus System by $2 million, bringing the total budget to $4.5 million. He also secured $1 million for the first-of-its-kind Hunger Free Campus Initiative. The purpose is to help schools create or expand campus food pantries and food banks, while supporting 30% of Pennsylvania's college students who are facing 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, according to the Official Pennsylvania Government Website. “The thoughtfulness of this operation helps increase food access, saving what would be wasted product and ultimately fighting food insecurity in Pennsylvania.”

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

“Gov. Wolf has met that challenge head-on to take away decisions of paying for bills or putting food on the table,” Redding told the Official Pennsylvania Government Website.