DoorDash has partnered with local hunger organizations in Pennsylvania to deliver food boxes to the elderly.
The initiative is designed to remove barriers and increase enrollment in the underutilized Pennsylvania Senior Food Box Program, which provides meal deliveries and nutrition services to eligible older Pennsylvanians.
“It’s high time that Pennsylvania’s food assistance programs offer services tailored to the unique needs of their recipients and actively work to remove barriers to access,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “This partnership with DoorDash to deliver Senior Food Boxes is a commonsense solution that will make saying ‘yes’ to the box easy. Accepting assistance can be hard enough for some, wondering how to get the food home should never be an added worry.”
More than 300,000 Pennsylvania seniors are eligible for the Pennsylvania Senior Food Box Program, but only about 35,000 are enrolled. Seniors often face barriers in accessing food assistance programs because of issues such as transportation, mobility or technology. Hunger-Free Pennsylvania, Feeding Pennsylvania and their network of food banks are partnering with DoorDash where its coverage overlaps with agencies administering the food box program.
“Our seniors deserve fresh, nutritious food. Transportation should never be a barrier to life-sustaining nourishment,” Pennsylvania Second Lady Gisele Fetterman said.
In Pennsylvania, eligible participants for the Pennsylvania Senior Food Box Program include low-income individuals who are at least 60 years old and whose household income is at or below 130 percent of the U.S. poverty level.
“DoorDash is proud to partner with Hunger-Free Pennsylvania, Feeding Pennsylvania, and others to power the delivery of food boxes to seniors through Project DASH and to celebrate this work alongside Secretary Redding and Second Lady Fetterman. This partnership is another example of DoorDash helping to meet an ongoing need for underserved communities,” said Brittany Graunke, DoorDash Drive’s director of government and nonprofit. “Leveraging our last-mile logistics platform, we are committed to promoting convenience and dignity while reducing barriers to accessing meals, groceries, and pantry items.”
This partnership is part of the company’s work through Project DASH, an initiative that connects food banks and food pantries with clients through last-mile delivery. To date, Project DASH has made more than 900,000 deliveries of an estimated more than 15 million meals in more than 900 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
