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JRA Struggles with Supply Chain,
Finding Summer Volunteers
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
A s skyrocketing gas prices and
grocery cost inflation have
impacted those most finan-
cially disadvantaged, the same factors
also affect the organizations that serve
them. Philadelphia-based Jewish Relief
Agency, a volunteer-led hunger-relief
nonprofit, has felt its share of pan-
demic- and war-induced economic
hardships, forcing the organization to
adapt to changing circumstances. As
summer approaches, small volunteer
numbers are making monthly food
packing and distribution efforts even
harder. JRA has struggled with sourcing
food to distribute to clients since 2020,
when the pandemic rendered some
food staples unavailable.

The organization serves 3,400
households in 90 zip codes around
Philadelphia. Around 65% of clients
are Jewish, and 73% are 65 years old
or older.

According to JRA Executive Director
Jodi Roth-Saks, JRA added more cli-
ents in 2020 due to the financial diffi-
culties of the pandemic While 300 of
the organization’s older clients died
in the pandemic, JRA began to serve
young families with growing financial
needs, Chief of Operations Julie Roat
added. “Not only did we have so many more
households asking for food, we also
had a challenging time accessing all of
the food we needed to feed everyone,”
Roth-Saks said.

Since the pandemic began, JRA has
fitted more food in boxes, going from
12-13 pounds to about 15 pounds. But
the cost to fill a box also has increased.

This year, the Passover box — one of
four holiday boxes JRA produces —
cost $4 more to fill than last year.

JRA receives
food from
Philabundance and Share Food
Program. It also receives funding from
FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter
Program grant, government support,
corporate and family foundations and
private donors to work with regional
vendors to source food.

Though the organization is not in
financial trouble, it feels the impact of
its vendors’ supply chain problems.

“What we’re dealing with, our price
changes or price increases, it’s astro-
nomical,” said Andrew Lansman, pres-
ident and owner of Baltimore-based
A&L Foods, one of JRA’s vendors. “I’ve
been in the business 40 years, and I’ve
never seen increases that we are expe-
riencing now.”
The prices of eggs have doubled, and
the company can only source 20-30% of
its usual supply of some foods. Freight
costs are the company’s biggest expen-
diture, Lansman said.

Sourcing kosher food at a good price
is even more challenging than sourc-
ing conventional goods. Many kosher
products are not made by their kosher
brands but rather outsourced to man-
ufacturers, adding one more step to
transportation. The smaller volume of
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