The West Chester Food Cupboard was born in 2009 when the old food cupboard, run for many years by Chester County Cares, closed. Dismayed volunteers banded together and decided to step up to the challenge and run a new food cupboard themselves and so the adventure began. In 2012 they had been sufficiently successful to form their own non-profit 501©(3) organization.

The number of volunteers increased as did donations as the community responded generously to the needs of low-income West Chester residents, who were struggling to feed themselves and their families.

In the summer of 2017, having definitely outgrown our old premises on E. Gay Street, the volunteers decided to move. We were lucky enough to find 431 S. Bolmar Street – a great location with twice the space, and a wonderfully welcoming place for people to shop. Since then, in response to increasing community needs, we have further expanded into 429 South Bolmar Street, which now houses a large warehouse and the Express Pantry.

The Cupboard is still 100% volunteer run with no paid staff. Currently there is an 11-person Board of Directors, a Lead Volunteer Team of twenty five, and over 200 volunteers, who willingly carry out a myriad of tasks.

The mission of the Cupboard has stayed the same, providing a variety of fresh and nonperishable food to West Chester residents in need and can be summed up by the slogan on everyone’s t-shirts: “…because no one should go hungry!“.