Sep 16, 2017 2 min read

Sheila Christopher, a native of Canonsburg, recently was honored by Hunger-Free Pennsylvania for her 30 years of exemplary service in the fight to feed families, unite communities, affect policy and change lives.

Christopher, who serves as executive director of HFPA, also was recognized by representatives from the state Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and she received citations from the state House and Senate.

Hunger-Free Pennsylvania was launched in 1983 as the Pennsylvania Association of Regional Food Banks to respond to the need families faced at the peak of the recession.

Christopher joined PARF in 1987 as a volunteer, and in 2001, she was named executive director of PARF and led a seamless transition when the organization changed in 2011 from the Pennsylvania Association of Regional Food Banks to Hunger-Free Pennsylvania.

Today, HFPA supports a network of 21 food banks that serve food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other hunger-relief organizations in all 67 counties.

Christopher’s leadership has won HFPA acclaim. In 2011, USDA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office recognized the association for dramatically increasing the number of Pennsylvanians served by the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides life-sustaining meal deliveries and nutrition services to low-income and homebound seniors. Participation has grown from 5,000 recipients in a few counties in 2002 to nearly 40,000 recipients in every county, a more than sevenfold increase.

Christopher also initiated and oversaw the effort to establish the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System, which was created in 2010 and leverages Pennsylvania’s agricultural surplus and charitable food distribution infrastructure to the benefit of farmers, packers and Pennsylvanians struggling with hunger.