Martha's Choice Marketplace serves 2,000 families a month

Norristown, Pa. (WPVI) -- Martha's Choice Marketplace is the largest food pantry in Montgomery County - and demand continues to grow so rapidly that traffic controllers now manage the long lines of cars waiting for food.

"When COVID hit, our numbers went from six or seven hundred families a month to suddenly two thousand families a month," says Eli Wenger, Director of Operations at Martha's Choice Marketplace & Community Farm.

Most of the pantry's food comes from partners like Philabundance, but Martha's also operates its own community farm.

"We are the fresh-growing arm of the pantry," explains Jacob Summers, Growing Manager at Martha's Community Farm.

The nonprofit, run by Catholic Charities of Philadelphia, is located on the former site of Saint Gabriel's Hall, which served adjudicated youth for nearly 120 years before closing in 2020.

"It just seemed like a natural next step to take the land and turn it into a small farm," Wenger says.

Summers adds, "We're not in it to make money. We're in it to see how much we can grow - how much we can give back to folks in need."

The farm has also planted a food forest filled with native trees and shrubs.

Standing beside rows of American persimmon, Summers explains, "That will help with the water quality of the Perkiomen Creek, which is right behind me."

For the team, the mission is simple and deeply rooted.

"Our mission is to build community through access to healthy food," says Patrick Walsh, Director of Programs at Martha's Choice Marketplace & Community Farm.

Martha's relies on thousands of volunteers - and the families who depend on the pantry often work in the very community they serve.

"The grocery store clerk that helped you this morning, the waitress who waited on you yesterday, home health care workers... these are folks who come to our pantry," Wenger says.
"This is your neighbor. This is someone you know."

Walsh sees the toll hunger takes every day.
"A lot of families are uncertain. They have fear about how they're going to take care of themselves - what they're going to do for their kids, where dinner is going to come from."

For Wenger, the farm symbolizes empowerment.
"This is the ability to transform your community that we all share."

In the end, Martha's Community Farm is a win-win-win - helping the environment, growing food, and building community at the same time.