North Wales donation table feeds those in need

 If you’ve driven down Main Street in North Wales this month, you’ve likely seen it: a standing sign with a chalk message reading “No one goes hungry: Free food. Take only what you need.”

And the community has taken that message to heart, says Meghan Surdenas, the resident behind that effort.

“I had been increasingly concerned about the SNAP benefits being discontinued, and had been thinking about what I needed to do,” Surdenas said.

“I live on Main Street, so I have a very, very visible property. And I thought, ‘I can’t let this go to waste,’” she said.

After a talk with her family, and about half an hour of setup, came the newest addition to Main Street: the sign asking for donations, and a nearby table where those driving by can leave or take food, no questions asked.

“I rummaged around the house, cleaned out my own pantry, and made a post. I started with maybe 15 items out of my own pantry, and put a post up on Facebook, and within four hours I had two bags, full, and within 24 hours I had food I couldn’t even fit outside, I had a secondary pantry inside my house,” Surdenas said.

“I can’t tell you the number of times those bags have been emptied and filled. Within three days, they were emptied and filled twice, that’s how hungry people are. When people are taking sardines, you know they’re hungry,” she said.

Those posts online quickly caught fire, and brought more donations — while the pace of those picking up food and goods has kept up, too, even after the state and federal budget stalemates were resolved.

“There are certainly people in the area that are on SNAP benefits, but there’s also people out there who don’t qualify for SNAP, and they’re still hungry,” she said.

Her home office faces that side of the house, so Surdenas can keep an eye outside if anyone needs help, and she said recent studies have shown that tens of thousands of drivers pass by her sign and table each day. Those who take from the table “mostly come at night, which I suspected, but we do have people stopping by during the day, too,” she said.

Over the past couple of weeks, she’s continued to make upgrades, like extra tables, a tent, added lighting so the sign and table are easier to see at night, and a neighbor offered to donate a patio umbrella to keep the table protected from the elements.  More upgrades are still being planned, and the donations are already appreciated.

“The first night I had it out, someone wrote on a McDonalds napkin, ‘Thank you for the food, God bless.’ I’m going to keep doing it, as long as people keep filing bags, and taking food,” Surdenas said.

Councilwoman Sarah Whelan gave a shoutout to Surdenas and her efforts at Tuesday night’s council meeting, saying she drove by the sign earlier this month, and her young daughter saw the sign and asked about it.

“I explained to her, what was happening in the community, and in the world, and what that was for. She said ‘We need to go into our closet, and see what we can give.’ So we did,” Whelan said.

“It was really nice to see how our small community can be so powerful, and in the darkest moments, be such a light — as a community member, and mom, and an educator, to find ‘How can I make a difference? Even when things are not so great, how can we make them better?’”

Several other councilmembers shared similar good news: council VP Wendy McClure said she recently met with the town’s Scout Troop 84 and heard that group collected and donated over 17,000 pounds of food during a recent drive, and thanked the scouts and “an enormous amount of volunteers” who helped collect them throughout the town.

Councilwoman Star Little added that she’s recently talked to administrators at North Wales Elementary School about food insecurity, and the district’s efforts to address it, and came away reassured: “I felt really good about the state of the school. They really have a handle on the families there, and how to support them. We’re very fortunate to have a really good support system at the school.”

And councilwomen Sally Neiderhiser and Anji Fazio both said they were heartened by strong support from the community who donated food at polling places during the Nov. 4 election: “Seeing people on both sides of the aisle come up, and bring food, we all came together. And then a couple of weeks later, to ride through North Wales and see so many people put those bags out, for the table and the scouts. We just keep giving. It’s the kind of community I always wanted to be a part of,” Fazio said.

Back to Main Street: Has Surdenas had any frequently asked questions? The table is there 24/7, and in addition to food, items in high demand so far have been feminine hygiene products and food for pets: “If you’re broke, your kids come first, and unfortunately your pets may have to wait,” she said.

“I suspect this week and next are going to be pretty busy, with the holiday coming. Somebody already dropped off some frozen turkeys at my back door a couple of days ago,” Surdenas said.

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com