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Philabundance to hold its first emergency food drive-through Friday morning at Citizens Bank Park parking lot

The goal is to safely distribute food to clients on a mass scale.

Volunteer Joseph Hill, 25, of West Philadelphia, hands out cantaloupe along with the boxes of packaged food from Philabundance to a resident of the neighborhood around 59th Street and Lansdowne Avenue. Starting Friday, and continuing every Friday through June, the agency will distribute food to people in cars at Citizens Bank Park.
Volunteer Joseph Hill, 25, of West Philadelphia, hands out cantaloupe along with the boxes of packaged food from Philabundance to a resident of the neighborhood around 59th Street and Lansdowne Avenue. Starting Friday, and continuing every Friday through June, the agency will distribute food to people in cars at Citizens Bank Park.Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer
    by Alfred Lubrano
    Updated 
    Published 

Philabundance will hold a free, drive-through emergency food distribution in the parking lot of Citizens Bank Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, and each Friday thereafter until June 26.

It’s the first time that Philabundance, one of two leading anti-hunger agencies in the region, has organized a drive-through distribution, according to spokesperson Samantha Retamar.

“With Philabundance partner agencies reporting up to a 60% increase in clients due to the pandemic,” she said, “the primary goal of this new site is to safely distribute food to clients on a mass scale.”

Philabundance plans to give out 35 pounds of food per vehicle every Friday. The agency will be able to serve up to 1,600 vehicles each week at the site, with clients receiving a combination of perishable products varying weekly, Retamar said. It will likely include produce, dairy products, and bread.

Anyone showing up for food will not be be asked for identification or to document income, she added.

The distribution will be handled in a limited-contact manner. Drivers will pull into parking lot N, where they will be asked to open their trunks. Volunteers will load up the food, packed in two to three boxes.

Motorists will be allowed to line up prior to the 9 a.m. starting time.

Retamar said Philabundance is working in tandem with the City of Philadelphia as well as the Phillies organization — “a long-time supporter of Philabundance’s hunger relief efforts,” she said.

To help give out the food, staff from both the National Guard and Civil Defense will be on site.

Along with this new operation, Philabundance has been working with the city and the Share Food Program, another regional anti-hunger agency, during the pandemic to distribute free food at 40 sites throughout the city.