LANSDALE — Free food was on offer at the North Penn High School cafeteria Saturday for the school’s Free Food Fest.
Dozens of community members were provided with a range of food items, including fresh produce, apple cider and candy. The food was available to anyone with no eligibility requirements.
The event was organized by the student club Sharing Excess North Penn. The club is the local branch of Sharing Excess, a Philadelphia-based non-profit that rescues and delivers surplus food to communities in need.
The club was founded last year by Derek Schneider, a senior. Schneider said that he was inspired to launch a local branch of Sharing Excess after getting involved with the organization.
“They hold pop-up food distributions every week, so I just thought it would be cool if I could do it at my school and bring the free food events up here to Lansdale to help people in our area,” said Schneider.
The club held its first Free Food Fest in January. The event provided 400 pounds of food to 100 people in the first 30 minutes, laying bare the urgent need in the community.
“We were originally supposed to go for three hours, so we severely underestimated the need in our community,” said Schneider.
While prioritizing food insecure people, Schneider said that the club aims to serve anyone regardless of their socioeconomic status.
“We just want to be able to help out anyone we can,” said Schneider. “I feel like everyone can be helped out by getting some free food.”
Alar Natesh, a senior and vice president of Sharing Excess North Penn, said that the event’s universality helps reduce the stigma attached to food assistance.
“No one wants to talk about it. Everyone has pride, and they don’t want to come out and get free food,” she said. “If everyone can get it, it won’t be [as if anyone is] looking down on you.”
Moving forward, the club plans to hold monthly food fest events and eventually branch out into collection drives.
“As the years go on, I feel like we will grow. I’m really excited for where this club is going,” said Natesh. “This is a really great club, and we’re trying to make some change in this community.”
For more information about Sharing Excess North Penn, visit the club’s Instagram page at www.instagram.com/Sharingexcessnp.