Cyclists Hit the Road to Fight Hunger in Indian Valley

John Worthington | The Reporter•

Cyclists depart the Souderton Community Park Saturday morning as the annual Cranksgiving food drive gets underway.

One hundred thirty cyclists hit the streets of Souderton Saturday morning, Nov. 4, for the sixth annual Cranksgiving food drive.

Sponsored by Bergey’s Auto and Integrated Security System, the bike ride stopped at two local grocery stores, where riders shopped for food items to donate to the Keystone Opportunity Center social services agency.

"This is a food drive with a bike ride. This is not a race,” said Brian Goshow, one of the event organizers. "If you came here today to win the Cranksgiving, you are officially a loser, not a winner.”

Riders had a choice of three routes, a five-mile family-friendly route that stopped at one store and 20- and 30-mile routes that stopped at both stores.

At the Landis Supermarket in Telford, riders stocked their carts with a variety of healthy meal options, including canned fruits and vegetables, low sugar breakfast cereal and canned soup. The carts were then wheeled outside, where volunteers loaded the donations onto a truck.

The event comes amid a "sharp increase” in the number of families visiting the Keystone Opportunity Center’s food pantry, said Executive Director Brandon Trombetta.

"The only way that Keystone can meet the increased needs of the community is through the generous and unique food drives held by community partners, like Cranksgiving,” said Trombetta.

Trombetta described this year’s ride as a success, with riders donating 4,200 pounds of food to the Keystone food pantry. Clarice Foster, Keystone Opportunity Center’s Food Pantry Manager, said that the donations will help approximately 300 families throughout the month of November.

"These families will leave not only with the resource of the food, but also with the comfort that there are people such as those involved in this drive, who dedicate their time to making sure no one goes hungry,” said Foster.

Goshow similarly emphasized the importance of the event, noting that Keystone distributed 486,000 pounds of food to more than 5,000 local families last year.

"So if you think that the need doesn’t exist in the Souderton and Indian Valley area, you’re wrong,” said Goshow.

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