Feed the Children
Starting Monday, June 9, and running through August 15 the Hampden Hunger Heroes will provide free lunch to children at the Sporting Hill Fire Station Training Room (295 South Sporting Hill Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050-3060) and Hope Church (6260 Carlisle Pike , Mechanicsburg, PA, 17050). Children of all ages, regardless of their address or family financial situation are welcome to come to the fire station to eat a complimentary lunch provided by the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank (sandwich, fruit, vegetable, and milk). Lunches will be served Monday through Friday, at the Fire Station and Monday through Wednesday at the church. Service is from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM. Fridays also feature Firetruck Fridays in which one of the Firepolice or one of the fire fighters will provide a tour of the engine bay after children have eaten lunch.
Hampden Hunger Heroes are community volunteers with a passion for feeding children. All active volunteers have submitted Child Abuse and State Police Clearances in addition to having received training about summer meals from the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. These meals are part of the National Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to find out more information. For more information about volunteering, please join Hampden Hunger Heroes on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/share/6Lm2V9m39ffLmj89/).
This is what it is all about…
feeding children and making smiling faces.
How to get to Sporting Hill
Turn onto the driveway for Sporting Hill Station, drive to the sign for the Training Room and turn left. Park in the back (the side closest to 581 and the large Hampden sign).
Turn left for the public entrance
How to get to Hope Church
The picture to the right is what you will see from 6260 Carlisle Pike. The church is encouraging people to enter through the rear as meals will be downstairs in their Fellowship Hall.
This is what Hope Church looks like from the rear. Please enter through the door intentionally left open in this photo.
Sample Menu
The menu is subject to change. Children need to take the entire meal and are encouraged to place items they don’t want to eat on the Share table for others who want more. Children are only able to be served one lunch per day. Services is on a first come first serve basis. Central Pennsylvania Food Bank will adjust future meal counts based on how many children participate the week of June 9.
Sponsors
Special thanks to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank for sponsoring the meal program and to the Hampden Township Board of Commissioners for allowing the Hampden Hunger Heroes to use the Sporting Hill Fire Station Training Room since 2024.
Thank you to Hope Church for opening their doors and bringing additional volunteers as we expand in 2025.
Thank you to Thrivent for its support in helping to buy a refrigerator for the 2024 lunch program.
Summer Food Service Program
The SFSP is a federally funded program operated by the US Department of Agriculture and administered in Pennsylvania by the Department of Education.
Families seeking food assistance for their children can also contact The USDA National Hunger Hotline, operated by Hunger Free America. The hotline can be reached Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET at
1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) (for English) or
1-877-8-HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273) (for Spanish).
Families may also: Call 211
