Opportunities

United Way of Lancaster County awarded the Loft Community Partnership a $20,000 Level Up & Launch grant. This money will help launch the Loft Community Kitchen at its new home on Charlotte Street. The Loft serves low-income individuals & families in the Penn Manor region, many of whom face food insecurity, housing instability and barriers accessing fresh, nutritious food. The Loft Community Kitchen expands upon the Loft Food Pantry program by educating clients on growing food, healthy cooking and nutritious eating. Through cooking demonstrations, nutrition education and garden workshops, we will empower individuals to make healthier choices, reduce food insecurity and build self-sufficiency. Balanced meal kits with recipes and children’s activities will reinforce healthy cooking at home.

Triple the Impact

Now through October 31st, the United Way of Lancaster County will match donations received by the Loft dollar per dollar up to $20,000. That would give us a total of $60,000 for the Loft Community Kitchen.

You can make a healthy impact on our neighbors by donating to
the Loft Community Kitchen.

(There are different giving levels that will impact different programs and projects.)

While on summer break, many children will no longer have access to the free or reduced meals they receive during the school year. In the Penn Manor School District, 50% of all students qualify for free or reduced meals. That’s 2,800 children at risk of going hungry this summer. The Loft Community Partnership is running a Summer Lunch Program to help bridge the gap and ensure that children in our community have access to nutritious meals during the summer months. The program runs for 10 weeks and provides five days of nutritionally balanced breakfast and lunch items to Penn Manor families who participate. You can help by donating cereal, canned pasta meals, peanut butter, jelly and ramen noodles. You can also donate financially to provide free meals to our children over the summer.

The Loft Community Partnership held a Partner Breakfast at Zion Church of Millersville on Friday April 25th from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. The room was packed with over 70 people who showed up learn about Loft news, strategic plan updates and our ‘Strong Partnership’ mission. We shared county-wide & Penn Manor data, highlighted service gaps and discussed opportunities for new & stronger partnerships. We look forward to developing strong partnerships in our community.

Thank you to all the presenters and attendees who participated in our Engage, Educate and Empower Conference on February 18-20, 2024. It was a great learning experience.