Kingdom Life Food Bank Supports Local Community

Olivia Schroder | Writer

With the fear of a recession, Kingdom Life’s Food Bank in Orefield prepares to give hope to more people in the community.

“During the hardest part of 2020, we were helping around 600 families per week,” said Christine Straubinger, office coordinator at Kingdom Life. “Since then, the numbers have dropped to 200 families, but lately we’ve seen a rise to 350.”

Kingdom Life offers their food bank to those within the Lehigh County area. Most of the people who come to receive help are single moms or veterans who have to choose between medication or food.

“The food bank is all about reaching the people who have been told they're worthless,” said Straubinger.

Though it's held in a church, Kingdom Life makes it clear there is no religious requirement for receiving food.

“The highest priority is to show them the love of Jesus,” said Jeremy Herbert, a frequent volunteer.

The Food Bank started as a passion project from Mary and Ruben Soto in 2013, where they started helping 100 families a month. When COVID-19 struck, the church adopted a drive-through food bank, where the volunteers put the food directly in the car. This helped them to stay open while most of the other food banks in the area closed.

Since COVID-19, there has been an increase in churches taking up the call to help their community throughout the Allentown and Bethlehem area, which has allowed Kingdom Life to focus on helping the Orefield Community.