By Brad Peterson, Executive Director, Power Packs Project

A feature piece from our Spring 2026 issue of the Lancaster Thriving Publication.

In 2005, Joan Espenshade was volunteering at Carter and MacRae Elementary in Lancaster and saw children lined up outside the nurse’s office each Monday morning. When she inquired why this was the case, the nurse told her that children were lining up because they were hungry and had a bellyache; they had not eaten over the weekend when school breakfast and lunch programs were not available. Seeing this, Joan could not just sit idly by, thus, Power Packs Project was born. Joan started what she called a “kitchen table committee” made up of friends and family who believed, like she did, that children in Lancaster should not be going hungry. Their goal was to ensure that children were well-fed over the weekend and ready to learn on Monday mornings and help their parents stretch their food budget and take better control over their nutrition.

From that humble beginning, Power Packs is now the largest school pantry/backpack program in central Pennsylvania, partnering with 11 school districts in Lancaster County (Cocalico, Columbia, Conestoga Valley, Donegal, Hempfield, L-S, Manheim Township, Penn Manor, Pequea Valley, School District of Lancaster, Warwick), 5 school districts in Lebanon County (Annville Cleona, Cornwall Lebanon, ELCO, Lebanon, Northern Lebanon), and 2 school districts in York County (Eastern York and Red Lion), serving a total of 117 school sites.

In 21 years, our mission has not wavered: to empower families with education and ingredients to create nutritious weekend meals, so their children return to school well fed and ready to learn. How do we do that? During the school year and summer distribution programs, Power Packs provides recipes for meals, the healthy ingredients for those meals and nutrition education to 1,900 families each week. The weekly packs include the recipe and ingredients, nutrition education materials, fresh produce, fresh milk, protein and other pantry staples such as peanut butter, cereal, whole grains, and healthy snacks. Last year, Power Packs provided more than 662,000 meals to families who otherwise may have gone without the food we provided.

As Power Packs continues to grow the organization is perpetually evaluating our needs, processes, and partnerships. Space and capacity is continually monitored. Six years ago, Power Packs moved into a larger warehouse space in Greenfield and last year doubled our space there, also adding a large industrial cooler for additional capacity of fresh food.

None of this would be possible without the generous support of our community. Lancaster, and the southcentral region of PA, offers Power Packs many tremendous opportunities and a culture of helping others. Building relationships with local distribution centers, warehouses, retailers, producers of food and growers extends our offerings to the families we serve. Power Packs’ partnership with Kreider Farms is a notable example of a cross-sector collaboration to meet the needs of our families. For many years, the most requested item of our families was fresh milk. Donations of fresh milk are nearly non-existent, so we needed to find a way to get the great nutrition fresh milk provides into the hands of our families. Enter Kreider Farms. This well-known Lancaster County dairy farm now partners with Power Packs to supply the milk we distribute to our families. It is a win-win, as children and families receive fresh, local milk and all the nutrition milk provides, and Power Packs supports our local dairy farmers and the ag industry in Lancaster County.

There are countless other examples that demonstrates the power of collaboration between sectors. Power Packs is constantly searching for new partners to increase the volume and quality of our offerings. Numerous local and regional companies who do not assist Power Packs with in-kind donations support our organization financially, enabling Power Packs to continue our strategic growth and ensure that food insecure children and their families are receiving the nutrition they need.

In the last year, school districts in at least eight surrounding counties have contacted Power Packs about potential partnerships. These possible new partnerships with Power Packs will enable us to meet this increasing need and fill the meal gap facing families who are food insecure. Together, we can all make a difference in the lives of children, one meal at a time.

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