New food packing center lets Centre County nonprofit help more people in need

Last summer, a local nonprofit that provides food for people in western Centre County and the surrounding areas purchased a building in Port Matilda to serve as its permanent food packing center, a move that has allowed them to help more people in need.

CommonFood Centre County, a nonprofit run entirely by volunteers and founded in 2012, provides the under-served and under-employed elderly, single-parent families and low-income families with donations in the form of cardboard boxes packed with nutritious food. After previously packing boxes in various locations across the county, they purchased a space of their own at 102 E. Plank Road in Port Matilda for $275,000 in July 2025.

The first food packing session at the new space — which was once a Subway, then the Schindler Motors car dealership — was held in late February. Before purchasing the building, CommonFood’s team of about 35 volunteers packed the boxes at several different locations, including at Way Fruit Farm, the Silcotek Corporation and Celebration Hall.

The food is received from places like food banks, churches, restaurants, grocery stores, other interested businesses and individuals across the county, and is stored at the packing center. Frozen and refrigerated items are stored at two walk-in coolers on the Calvary Harvest Fields church’s grounds in Harris Township. Food is dropped off at the space every week day but Friday.

While the nonprofit was productive before opening its permanent packing center, the new building has allowed its volunteers to pack even more boxes, which in turn serves even more people — to the tune of roughly 20,000 to 24,000 pounds of food distributed each month.

“One of the biggest pros of having a permanent space like this is being able to go in and out of it whenever we want, in accordance with our own schedules,” CommonFood President Jim Leaman told the Centre Daily Times in an interview Tuesday alongside his wife Sheryl Leaman, who serves as the nonprofit’s treasurer.

The new space also has more space for volunteers and flexibility for their operations, he said.

“We had keys to the places we packed at before, where we were able to get in and do things from time to time, but it’s not the same,” Jim Leaman said. “This new building has given us complete freedom to do what we need to do in here, whenever we need to do it. Aside from that, the old locations got pretty crowded, and this new one gives us some more space for our volunteers.”

Aside from more wiggle room, the Leamans also like the large overhead door at the front of the building that allows for easy drop-off of food, and the space’s ability to be easily updated. There are plans being made to move the two walk-in coolers from Calvary to the new building in the near future.

Another major benefit of the new space is its proximity to the Port Matilda Baptist Church at 105 S. Main St., which is where all of the nonprofit’s food distributions are held. Currently, three food distributions are held there — a large one on the third Saturday of each month where registration is required, and two smaller, weekly ones at 6 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays that are walk-in.

While the nonprofit primarily caters to those in western Centre County, people from a total of 32 different communities have utilized the nonprofit’s services, including residents from Altoona, Tyrone, Bellefonte, Philipsburg, Snow Shoe, State College and Milesburg boroughs and several local townships, Sheryl Leaman said.

“I’d say that we serve around 200 families, if not more now,” she said.

Before the new building, volunteers would have to haul the packed boxes across the county from their previous packing locations to the church. But now, with the packing center so close, all it takes is a one-minute walk across a couple parking lots to deliver the boxes, or an even quicker drive.

“Packing boxes has become a much easier process than what it used to be; we’re loving it here,” Jim Leaman said. “I couldn’t even begin tell you how many car rides it took to get every single box there before, but I can tell you that it was way too many.”

Since officially moving into the space in January, and holding the first packing session there earlier this spring, CommonFood volunteers believe they’ve found their perfect home.

“We hope to be operating out of this space for as long as we can,” Jim Leaman said. “It’s easy to find and everyone seems to really like so far.”

For more information about food distributions and donating food, visit www.commonfoodcentrecounty.com/contact, call 814-409-8584 or email commonfoodpa@gmail.com. Information is also available on the nonprofit’s Facebook page.