BCOC In The News
WPVI 6 ABC at Fresh Connect
Gray Hall visited the Bristol Fresh Connect on Friday, June 22, 2018 to learn more about the lunch boxes for kids being distributed this summer.

"For Bucks County residents like the Evans family, the summer months can be challenging financially to find a nutritious meal.

School is out and it's up to mom to make sure the family's six kids are eating properly. That's where programs like Fresh Connect make a world of difference.

"I think it is important and it gives kids the opportunity to try different vegetables that they have never tried before and I think it's great for the community," Jane Evans said. "It helps everyone out who is struggling and having a hard time paying for groceries every month."

Read the full story and watch the video here: https://6abc.cm/2yJTLv5
First round of summer boxed lunches arrive in Bucks County

"When school closes for the summer, most kids are pretty happy. But for some children it means missing a much-needed meal...

In an effort to bridge the summertime gap, the hunger relief nonprofit Philabundance is contributing 600 boxed lunches weekly to the Bucks County Opportunity Council, which in turn will make the meals available at Fresh Connect free farm markets in Warminster, Bristol Township and Ottsville."

Read the full story and watch the video here: https://bit.ly/2tkYEEV
What's Happening
Thank you Foundations Community Partnerships for granting BCOC a $10,000 grant that will help us purchase equipment such as laptops and printers for our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program!

To volunteer with the Tax preparation program, visit our website or contact Eileen at ealbillar@bcoc.org.
Hope of the Harvest 2018
These great volunteers helped us kick off the 2018 season of the Hope of the Harvest Charitable Garden ! Many thanks for picking cabbage, squash, zucchini and cucumbers for our neighbors in need.

Hope of the Harvest is a partnership that provides locally grown produce to BCOC and our food network. We rely on volunteers like you to help harvest each week on Tuesdays- Click here for volunteer registration , and check frequently, as spaces open up often before each event.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Pantry Distribution Help Needed Today, 7/12
Help needed today and in the coming weeks, to assist food program with moving donated food. Give an hour or two to #Feedourcommunity ! Sign up below.

Fresh Connect Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer with Fresh Connect this summer!



Beginning in June, BCOC began distributing lunch boxes for children at Fresh Connect sites. Provided by  Philabundance , the Lunch Box program provides free and nutritious ready-to-eat meals for kids under 18. Meals are produced by the Philabundance culinary training program. A member of the family must be registered at Fresh Connect to receive kids lunch boxes. Each child can receive one per week. 

Fresh Connect Bucks County is a free farmer’s market bringing fresh, healthy food to our hungry neighbors in Bucks County. It returns to the same location on the same day at the same time each week, providing reliable and needed food to the 57,000 Bucks County residents facing hunger, 32% of whom are children. Fresh Connect is a collaboration of Bucks County Opportunity Council, Philabundance, Rolling Harvest Food Rescue and St. Mary Medical Center, with generous funding by United Way of Bucks County.
On Poverty...

Washington Post, July 1, 2018

"The check arrived out of the blue, issued in his name for $1,200, a mailing from a consumer finance company. Stephen Huggins eyed it carefully. A loan, it said. Smaller type said the interest rate would be 33 percent. Way too high, Huggins thought. He put it aside.
A week later, though, his 2005 Chevy pickup was in the shop, and he didn’t have enough to pay for the repairs. He needed the truck to get to work, to get the kids to school. So Huggins, a 56-year-old heavy equipment operator in Nashville, fished the check out that day in April 2017 and cashed it. Within a year, the company, Mariner Finance, sued Huggins for $3,221.27. That included the original $1,200, plus an additional $800 a company representative later persuaded him to take, plus hundreds of dollars in processing fees, insurance and other items, plus interest. It didn’t matter that he’d made a few payments already."