Since its debut in January, the Fresh and Free Community Pantry inside Apollo Memorial Library has been in high demand, with more than $1,000 in food moving off its shelves some days.

The effort hit a snag Feb. 3, when Jennifer Ramsey, the new library director, received its last donation from Armstrong Community Action Food Bank.

“We reached out to local businesses here to see what could be done at a more local level to accommodate the level of need,” Ramsey said.

A local grocery store has stepped up.

Now, five days a week, the less than perfect — but perfectly fine to eat — produce from Naser Foods in Oklahoma Borough is filling the shelves.

Naser’s manager, Michelle Bonja, coordinates the donation of more than 40 pounds of produce each week.

“It makes me happy that people are able to use the food,” Bonja said. “We donate $300 to $400 of produce weekly.”

Ramsey, who started the pantry, said, “We have moved into a structure where our community pantry is supported by local effort and mutual aid. That was an original goal of mine.”

Bonja said potatoes are popular with food banks, and several bins were filled with small potatoes at the pantry.

“You can cook so many things with them,” Bonja said. “Anything that we get that we can’t sell for full price, but is still good and edible, we donate.”

At Naser’s, produce not suitable for the library pantry goes to local pig farmers, Bonja said.

This week, a surplus of jalapeños filled the shelves in the library’s pantry, the first of its kind in Armstrong County.

Ramsey keeps the public informed about daily food donation news on the library’s Facebook page.

On Tuesday, she posted a photo of a fridge filled with spaghetti squash, cabbage, peppers, zucchini, grapes, lettuce, green beans, peaches, pears, strawberries, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, limes and apples.

The pantry does not stock nonperishables such as canned goods.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review Jennifer Ramsey, director of the Apollo Memorial Library, displays potatoes donated by Naser Foods in Oklahoma Borough.  

“We average about 50 people a day. I never ask about the circumstances. It’s a complete shame-free, no-questions-asked food pantry,” Ramsey said.

The free food outreach operates without grant money, she said.

Bill Naser, owner of Naser Foods, said donating produce is a way for him to pay it forward.

“The community is here for us, so we try and give back, however we can,” Naser said. “If not for the community, I don’t have a store.”

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review Jennifer Ramsey, director of the Apollo Memorial Library, stocks snap peas Friday at the Fresh and Free Community Pantry in Apollo. The pantry serves hundreds of people weekly, and the donations are locally sourced.  

Ramsey praised the entire Apollo community for working together to help fill a need.

“It takes many hands to make this kind of venture work. I’m excited about where the teamwork is taking us,” Ramsey said. “Naser Foods has been a fantastic community partner — showing up with generosity and a genuine commitment to helping make sure the community gets the food it needs — at all income levels.”

Other Apollo businesses stepping up with donations include Patrick’s Pub, providing frozen ready-made meals, and Held’s Shop ’n Save, which has donated surplus food items.

Apollo-area churches and individuals have made monetary donations, and those funds are used to purchase staples such as apples, onions, oranges and, sometimes, bread, Ramsey said.

“We’re doing OK right now. We need to keep the interest level sustained. People leave donations from $1 to $500,” Ramsey said. “It’s been a community win.”

The pantry recently added a vegetable seed section.

“We’re giving out free vegetable seeds to both help combat community food insecurity and give people a chance to give back to our pantry some of the food that they grow, to help others,” Ramsey said.

For more information or to donate, call 724-478-4214 or find Apollo Memorial Library on Facebook.

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