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Allegany County groups outline food‑drive plans and rising pantry demand ahead of Super Bowl Day of Caring
Summary
Accord and Arden Solutions briefed the Allegany County Board on Super Bowl Day of Caring (Feb. 7), local pantry use and a pilot home‑delivery effort; presenters cited nearly 972,000 pounds distributed countywide in 2025 and urged donations and volunteers.
Gwen Cooper, mobility manager for Arden Solutions and a representative of Allegany County Public Transit, and Belinda Knight, director of community operations for Accord, spoke to the Allegany County Board of Legislators on Jan. 28 about the county’s Super Bowl Day of Caring and ongoing food‑security work.
Cooper described the Feb. 7, 2026 event, saying the transit agency will station a fleet bus outside Tops Friendly Markets for nonperishable food drop‑offs and that donation boxes will be placed at schools, banks, the Office for the Aging and other county locations to make giving accessible. “Together, we can ensure that no one in our county goes without the food they need,” Cooper said.
Knight provided data on local need and delivery efforts. She said Food Link, the county food bank, distributed about 972,000 pounds of food to Allegany County in 2025 and that, from July 2024 to June 2025, local pantries provided roughly 23,303 food boxes to households. Knight said some pantries reported sharp increases in demand — citing one pantry’s 55% year‑over‑year increase — and described steps Accord has taken, including surplus‑food rescue (51,000 pounds recovered in 2025), expanded store pickups and partnerships with Meals on Wheels and home‑visitor programs.
Knight said Accord logged what she reported as 202,368 volunteer hours supporting distribution last year and that the organization has begun a modest home‑delivery pilot, sending 30 prepacked boxes to Meals on Wheels recipients as a first step toward addressing access barriers for homebound older adults and people with disabilities. She invited the board and public to pantry tours by appointment during National Nutrition Month in March 2026.
The board chair thanked the presenters and noted interagency collaboration during a recent SNAP benefits delay, praising partner responses that kept food flowing to residents. County staff said they will issue a press release with donation locations and post the list online.
Next steps: the organizers asked residents to donate nonperishables on Feb. 7 and to volunteer; the board did not take any formal action on the presentation.
Sources: Presentation to the board by Gwen Cooper and Belinda Knight during the Jan. 28, 2026 Allegany County Board of Legislators meeting.
