Loft Community Partnership (LCP), 222 N. George St., Millersville, was recently awarded a grant from United Way of Lancaster County, which annually selects 11 local nonprofits to support through its Level Up & Launch initiative. LCP plans to use the $30,000 grant from United Way to expand its existing community outreach services and launch the 717 Food Recovery Program to combat food insecurity in the area.

The 717 Food Recovery Program is centered around LCP's practice of recovering fresh food from local retailers before it becomes discarded. Once a week, recovered food is distributed at the organization's food bank, which operates on a client-choice model to allow people to only take the items that they need. In addition to the initial grant, United Way will match any donations made to LCP until Tuesday, Oct. 31. Donations may be made online at https://tinyurl.com/leveluplcp.

"The partnership with United Way has given us so many opportunities to grow our organization and involve more neighbors and clients in our decision-making process," said Jenna Graeff, LCP's director of strategic partnerships. "We want to come together to learn how to make our services more sustainable." LCP is seeking local growers, farmers and food retailers both small and large to partner with it as part of the 717 Food Recovery Program. For more information, contact Graeff at 717-723-8180 or email theloftcp@gmail.com.

LCP's food bank has seen an increase in the number of its clients this year; its weekly average of households served has increased by more than 50. Graeff attributed the higher demand to rising food costs and the reduction of government benefits such as food stamps, which were decreased in March. In response, LCP has worked to maximize the efficiency of the food bank and keep its costs low by partnering with other local organizations such as Homefields Care Farm and Grace Church Lancaster. "We've been having a lot of beautiful produce and herbs donated every week. What we've been able to offer the community has been abundant this year," Graeff said.

Beyond its food bank, LCP provides a number of other services to meet the needs of the community. In preparation for the 2023-24 school year, LCP partnered with Martic Pantry to collect school supplies and backpacks to give to families of students in the Penn Manor School District. LCP also partnered with businesses such as CarMax and Verizon, which provided volunteers to staff collection drives. This is the third year that LCP has organized a collection of school supplies, and it has grown in size every year. The organization hopes to continue its growth by offering more items for children, such as clothing and vouchers for haircuts. "The beginning of the school year is an expensive time for parents," Graeff said. "(The drive) takes some of the burden off of parents to buy all of the things that their kids need."