Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank recently celebrated an amazing milestone: one full year of making meals at its Helping Harvest Community Kitchen in downtown Reading, and distributing them to area families and individuals facing food insecurity.
Helping Harvest staff began the process of moving into the 7,000 square foot commercial kitchen (and adjoining offices) in mid-April 2025 and were producing meals by the end of that month, just two weeks later. The very first meals produced included Mrs. T’s Pierogies, which are made in Schuylkill County, part of Helping Harvest’s territory. May 2025 was the first complete month of occupying the building adjacent to the Goggleworks Center for the Arts and making meals—and that was just the beginning of a successful first year, which exceeded every goal set by Helping Harvest leadership.
In the first year the kitchen was open, it produced over 170,000 meals. This included almost 15,000 Thanksgiving meals of smoked turkey breast, house made gravy, sweet potato mash, green beans and cranberry sauce. The most meals produced in a single volunteer shift of 2.5 hours was 2,225 in February 2026, by a group comprised largely of Penske employees.
Initial goals for the kitchen were to create around 75,000 meals made from donated product in the first year, building to a goal of 2,500 meals weekly by May 2026. Helping Harvest staff hoped to recruit seven or eight volunteers per day at the kitchen.
“I have never before been a part of a project that so completely exceeded our ambition,” said Helping Harvest President Jay Worrall. “We first completed 2,500 meals in a week in August 2025, nine months ahead of schedule. We surpassed 100,000 meals in just our tenth month. We regularly see more than 20 volunteers each day.”
The kitchen provides a variety of meals for Berks and Schuylkill County neighbors experiencing food insecurity, primarily focused on specific populations such as seniors. The types of meals include nutritionally balanced frozen heat-and-eat ready meals and bulk ingredients repackaged into family-friendly portions, both distributed through Helping Harvest’s network of agency partners and programs such as pantries and Mobile Markets, as well as hot congregate meals served by Helping Harvest’s shelter and soup kitchen partners.
Some of the menus produced have included a variety of soups such as cheesesteak potato soup and ham & bean soup, breakfast meals like biscuits and sausage gravy and French toast served with compound butter and sausage, vegetarian and vegan meals like pasta with mushroom bolognese and squash soup, and dinners like lasagna, shepherd’s pie, lemon chicken and tortellini, chicken parmesan, chicken fajitas and more. Most components of the dishes are made in-house, such as stocks, sauces and biscuits, and are made using a variety of donated products. The efforts at the kitchen would not be possible without Helping Harvest’s food donors and retail partners, which include farmers, food manufacturers, grocery stores and more.
The Kitchen is staffed by three full-time professional chefs: Director of Culinary Operations Melanie Galarza, Production Chef George Adams and Assistant Production Chef Christopher Kochel. Together they have over 47 years of culinary expertise and have studied at the Culinary Institute of America, Johnson & Wales University and the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in NYC.
“Our number one priority is balancing the quality and quantity of the meals we produce, so we can best serve as many neighbors as possible,” said Galarza. “Secondary to that is utilizing donated products effectively in both congregate meals and repacking them into smaller portions to be distributed. Ultimately, we want to make sure all the food we produce is tasty, visually appealing and nutritionally balanced.”
Volunteers join the chefs in the kitchen for 7 or 8 shifts per week (shifts are typically 2.5 hours): preparing ingredients, packaging meals, repacking bulk ingredients into one-pound packages for distribution and doing other tasks like washing dishes. Many volunteers come back repeatedly due to the fun atmosphere created by the chefs in the kitchen, and the care with which they work. Here’s what one volunteer said:
“My experience with Helping Harvest has been overwhelmingly positive. I have taken numerous groups to volunteer in their kitchen and have consistently observed the high quality of ingredients used, the care and attention given to food preparation, and the genuine heart behind their work.”
Neighbors who have received meals from the Community Kitchen over the past year have been impressed by their taste, convenience and variety. Here’s what some of the meal recipients said:
“I loved the meal! It was well balanced and I was very satisfied.”
“The meal was very helpful and so convenient!”
“The meals are a pleasant addition to the food distribution. The food was expertly prepared and not overly seasoned. Good job!”
Helping Harvest has also partnered with Reading Area Community College (RACC) to provide hands-on culinary training for students in its Institutional and Commercial Cooking Program. Students get real-world experience in a commercial kitchen, receive mentorship from the chefs and are able to earn industry-recognized certifications.
The chefs at the Community Kitchen and Helping Harvest staff have a number of exciting opportunities in the pipeline for year two, always with an eye on how to best serve neighbors in the area experiencing food insecurity. They plan to find new ways to serve vulnerable populations such as seniors, expand their congregate meal program beyond existing relationships with organizations like New Journey Community Outreach and Safe Berks and more.