Amber Till cherishes her $20 bunch of basil.

The director of communications for Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative in Crawford County, Till will often roll up to one of the area’s Pay-What-You-Can Farmstands and … pay what she can.

To some, $20 for a handful of basil may seem outrageous. Not in this case, she says, noting the operators of the farmstand network use the money they make to buy fresh produce from local farmers and then provide affordable — sometimes free — food to the public.

“I’ll go and get what I need and then give them whatever cash I have in my wallet,” Till says, recognizing her responsibility to do what she can to make sure others — children, in particular — aren’t going hungry. 
She’s been one of those kids.
 

“I grew up as a food pantry kid. My folks didn’t have a whole lot of money, and I remember eating spaghetti rings out of a can,” Till says. “We were free-lunch kids when I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s. And so, for me, food insecurity is huge.”

As it is for so many Pennsylvanians.

A growing hunger

According to the nonprofit Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs, there was a 40% increase in food insecurity in the Keystone State from 2021 to 2023.

“That’s pretty significant,” says Lauren Duff, chief public affairs officer for Feeding Pennsylvania, a Feeding America partner. “We’re back up to levels of food insecurity from the worst of the pandemic.”

Things were already at crisis levels, Duff says, before last year’s interruption of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Cuts were also made to two critical federal food assistance programs. The cancellation of $6 million in Emergency Food Assistance Program shipments meant the loss of more than 1 million meals in Philadelphia alone. And a $13 million cut in the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program not only impacted local food pantries, which were unable to purchase fresh food, but also affected the farmers who produce and supply it.

Even as SNAP benefits have returned, food banks and pantries throughout the state are seeing more clients.

“The demand is still higher than it was before [SNAP benefits were halted],” says Duff, theorizing that people have now discovered the additional help. “Folks who were just like barely scraping by with their SNAP benefits are now realizing they can supplement with help from their local pantry.”

One in eight Pennsylvanians experiences food insecurity — a government term used to describe those who don’t have enough to eat and don’t know where their next meal will come from, according to Feeding Pennsylvania. The organization helps by annually distributing more than 230 million pounds of food to 2,750 agencies and food pantries in all 67 counties. It is, to be sure, an important foundation for feeding Pennsylvanians.

Look a little more closely, however, and you’ll see an almost invisible network of other helpers. Throughout the state, rural electric cooperatives — already designed to reach into the nooks and crannies of Pennsylvania’s 46,000 square miles — are bringing more than electricity to homes. With “concern for community” as one of seven core cooperative principles, they and their members are leading food initiatives in every corner of the Commonwealth.

‘The cooperative always wants to give back’

In south-central Pennsylvania, Adams Electric Cooperative in Gettysburg has built a unique partnership with New Hope Ministries that provides multiple opportunities to help people in the co-op’s service territory, which covers Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, York and Perry counties.

“They have a passion and a heart for the communities we work with,” Program Director Sue Fornicola says of the group’s relationship with Adams Electric. In 2024, for instance, the co-op created a Hardship Fund through New Hope Ministries that’s supported by donations from the utility and its consumers. The financial assistance, up to $500 a year, helps eligible co-op members pay their electric bill, freeing up funds for other necessities like food.

New Hope Ministries Program Manager Sue Fornicola works closely with the co-op staff on a handful of community service projects.

And the cooperative helps with that, too.

Last year, as part of its 85th anniversary celebration, Adams Electric asked members attending its drive-thru events to bring food and other donations.

“New Hope has been a huge partner of ours in the community,” says Kami Noel, Adams’ communications/member relations coordinator. “This was a way that we could finally give something back to that organization.”

Additional donations and sponsorships from the co-op have helped LifePath Christian Ministries in York County provide food for holiday meals and other resources for families. They have also  allowed the Adams County Farmers Market to offer shoppers free or reduced-price resources.

Statewide, similar scenarios are playing out.

“Being part of a small community, the cooperative always wants to give back,” Sullivan County REC CEO John Lykens says of his employees’ food drive last year. He and 18 other staffers not only fed a family at Thanksgiving, but they also gathered items for the Sullivan County Food Pantry.

In neighboring Tioga County, Tri-County REC collected food and monetary donations to support the Mansfield Food Pantry and provided manpower for deliveries. The potatoes included in the donation were supplied by Board Chairman Valery Robbins, who owns and operates Barnett Farms with her husband, Chris.

Last year, Indiana, Pa.-based REA Energy gave financial donations to several area food banks, and Somerset REC asks members to bring food donations to its Member Appreciation Day, held each October. Staff then delivers the items to community food banks. Nearby New Enterprise REC invites members to bring non-perishable food to its annual meeting drive-thru, which also supports local food pantries. 

A group effort

These acts of giving are a normal part of cooperative life that also trickle down to co-op members, who are just as committed to embracing the concern for community principle.
 

As the saying goes: It’s a group effort.

When the Tussey Mountain girls varsity basketball team in Bedford County hosted an open practice to kick off the 2025-2026 season, players encouraged the public to bring non-perishable food items.

The donations stocked the school’s pantry, which is open to students on weekends and over long school breaks to supplement food needs. Like many school districts around the state, Tussey Mountain, located in territories served by New Enterprise REC and Valley REC, also offers a Weekend Backpack Program for elementary students that helps fill the gap when school meals aren’t available.

“This was right before Thanksgiving, so it worked out great,” says Brianna Gabrielson, a 17-year-old senior and team captain, whose parents, Angie and Eric, are Valley REC members. “And it’s just a really great example of the kind of values that have been instilled in us and the values we want to carry with us after high school and into the real world: being generous, being compassionate, and thinking of other people before yourself.”

When the evening was over, food filled the tables.

“It was an eye-opener when we got all the food together in the center of the gym,” junior Hillary Horton says. “We got to see how many people we’d be helping; we know that a lot of people struggle, and we wanted to take the opportunity to use what we were given to help people.”

It was an opportunity, says Gabrielson, that might not have been obvious.

“It wouldn’t have been my first thought,” she says of using a basketball practice to support others, “but there’s always a way to help somebody else. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of creativity.”

Just ask Stephanie Thauer, a Crawford County farmer and Northwestern REC member who wanted to provide the public with fresh, affordable food while also helping area farmers.

“There are a lot of areas in the City of Erie and in nearby rural communities that just don’t have grocery stores or fresh food vendors,” says Thauer, adding that one barrier local farmers face is being able to work on the farm while still having time to sell their goods.She, along with fellow farmer Stephanie Ciner, created the Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand network in Erie County. Volunteers collect the produce from farmers and distribute it among seven sites — six in the City of Erie and one in Edinboro. Last year, 30,800 pounds of produce went to 4,300 people, all using the pay-what-you-can model.

The farmstands, according to the network’s website, “allow individuals the dignity of contributing if they can, and freely sharing with those who cannot.” In addition to access to fresh locally grown food, the farmstands offer seedlings (and growing instructions) so people can raise their own veggies. Thauer and Ciner also encourage local gardeners to share their overabundance.

Each stand accepts vouchers, SNAP benefits, cash and credit/debit cards. The average donation is about $2, and it all goes back to buying more produce from local farmers for the next week.
 

Year-round giving

In the same corner of the state, Northwestern REC works with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

“They’ve been great partners, and they’ve done a great job of supporting our pantry network,” Second Harvest Executive Director Greg Hall says. “They do everything … the big things during the holiday season … they donated $5,000 to local pantries [eight, in all] … and there’s a lot of fundraising and food support. They really lean into the communities they serve.”

Amber Till, still relatively new to the co-op’s staff, is excited to be able to give back.

“That was one of my roles I was really excited about: that I could jump right in with our sponsorships and donations; that’s how we show our concern for the community,” she says.

The co-op routinely buys livestock at the annual Crawford County Fair 4-H Auction, processes the meat and holds a raffle for members, with the proceeds going to its Member-to-Member program that helps with electric bills. Last year, a portion of the meat from a second purchase went to local food pantries. The cooperative’s back-to-school supply drives also help free up family budgets for food, and year-round financial donations to community organizations keep pantry shelves stocked beyond the holiday “giving season.”

“You’re not just hungry at Thanksgiving. You’re not just hungry at Christmas. It’s easy to think about those big-feast events, but it’s essential that there’s food available all the time,” says Till, who is organizing donation events in conjunction with the co-op’s 90th anniversary celebration this year. “We’re continuing to raise funds for our Member-to-Member fund, which is available year-round. It doesn’t necessarily help with food, but if we can alleviate the need to put all of your money toward your electric bill, that leaves money for the grocery store.

“We’ll also continue to support organizations in the community that help with food insecurity.”

Personally? She volunteers with the Pay-What-You-Can Farmstands when she can.

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful project,” she says. “I’m grateful for what I have now and grateful that I’m in a position where I can help. That’s so important, particularly for people who have great jobs working at a cooperative. It’s important to remember that not everybody has that and to give back as much as we can.”

Even if it’s just one bunch of basil at a time.