By Bailey Dickerson

Bryn Mawr Trust is hosting a contactless food drive at its Blue Bell Branch Saturday, Oct. 24 in response to the shortage that local food pantries are experiencing.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, local food pantries and other charities have seen an unprecedented demand from those in need and have been struggling to meet that demand.

Bryn Mawr Trust saw this need and in late August formulated the idea to host contactless food donation drives at branches where surrounding food pantries are struggling.

“We wanted to do our part to make it less challenging for people experiencing hunger,” said Loren Berckey, Bryn Mawr Trust’s Marketing Manager.

“One of the things we saw is that a lot of people didn’t have that safety net—the six months’ worth of savings that you hear about for emergencies. Some people didn’t even have one month saved up.”

With no money coming in and several expenses such has utilities, rent or mortgage, transportation, and childcare coming up for the next month, people found they had less money to spend on necessities like food. This led BMT to jump into action.

“We pulled this together in less than a month,” said Berckey, “and we wanted to do it properly and safely, too.”

In previous campaigns such as clothing and toy drives, BMT would accept donations clients brought with them inside the branch during walk-in visits.

However, clients were allowed to visit BMT branches by appointment only due to safety concerns, and therefore the food drive wouldn’t be able to efficiently collect donations using this same method.

The contactless food drive is as easy as the contactless pickup now offered by grocery stores. Someone who wishes to participate in the food drive simply has to bring a bag of non-perishable food and follow the signs posted at the host location guiding them in the correct direction.

Following the instruction of employees, the driver will stop their car and pop their trunk for the employee to collect the donation. After the employee closes the trunk, donors may follow the exit signs and be on his or her way. It’s that easy!

Additionally, at each food drive event there are designated parking spaces for those who have their donations in the front of the car with them, instead of the trunk. At these spaces, donators may step out, wearing a mask, and set their donation on a table where it will then be collected by an employee.

The first contactless food drives BMT hosted were held at the beginning of the month at the Bryn Mawr and Havertown branches. A couple weeks later, BMT hosted the next two in Hershey and at the Princeton, N.J. branch.

Another location participating in the contactless food drive on Saturday is the Roxborough branch in Philadelphia. BMT has scheduled an additional food drive for Nov. 7 at the West Chester Branch in Paoli and the Greenville, Del. branch.

The 10 most-needed food drive items are peanut butter, canned tuna or meat, canned fruits & vegetables, non-refrigerated boxed milk, oatmeal and breakfast cereal, cooking oil, canned stew & soups, jams & preserves, 100 percent juice, and pasta & rice.

Learn more about Bryn Mawr Trust’s contactless food drives here.