Elected officials and Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard leadership cut the ribbon on the facility’s new full choice pantry during a ceremony on July 31, 2025 at 150 N. Main St. in Ambler. (Rachel Ravina – MediaNews Group).
Valerie Goode left the parking lot of the Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard, 150 N Main Street in Ambler, on Thursday morning with a rolling cart full of groceries – items she selected herself.
Goode, 63, lives not far from the Ambler-based nonprofit offering food assistance to those in need. A diabetic and retired cook at a nearby Ambler nursing home, Goode said that salads and fried chicken and fish are her specialty. Goode enjoys sourcing fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses, and said she loved going through the community cupboard’s new full choice pantry model Thursday morning.
“I think it’s great. It is. The first time I did it, I was like, oh my goodness, I couldn’t believe that we could actually pick what we want to eat. I could choose the foods that I like,” Goode said.
Goode was among the first patrons on Thursday, July 31, to access the new concept in food delivery to combat hunger: a self-shopping choice pantry where those needing food can browse and select what suits their diet and tastes.
Designated shopping time is slated for 9-11:15 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, with some alternate slots available, said cupboard Executive Director Cindy Wedholm.
“Our families now can really pinpoint the items that they want every week or every other week, and know that that food is then going to get utilized by their family and not go to waste,” Wedholm told MediaNews Group ahead of Thursday’s official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new pantry.
Establishing a ‘gold standard’ pantry
The idea for a full choice pantry has been a north star for Wedholm since she assumed the leadership position 5 years ago.
“We had to have a lot of baby steps in between, but we have finally achieved it, and we’re thrilled, and the feedback has been really, really positive from the clients,” Wedholm said.
The community cupboard had operated as an “every month pantry” prior to Wedholm’s tenure. Some inspiration came from Katie Martin’s “Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger,” as Wedholm looked to implement changes to the suburban food pantry.
“I really felt strongly that it would be difficult to plan a family’s meals and food choices if you were only coming once a month. So we first originally switched to every other week, which is what we still do. But the ultimate goal … was to become a full choice pantry,” Wedholm said.
Categorizing the full choice model as the “gold standard of food pantries,” Wedholm said the concept is intended to provide “autonomy and dignity” to the clientele.
“As opposed to getting a very traditional bag of canned goods and products in a bag — ‘here you go’ — when you walk into a food pantry,” she said. “People are actually coming in and getting a grocery cart and walking around the aisles and picking the food like they would in a grocery store.”
Need continues to grow
The community cupboard has evolved over the last five decades, serving 20,400 individuals in 2024, Wedholm said, with the capacity more than doubling from the 10,000 individuals in 2021.
“This year already we have already served over 12,500 people. I’m on track to keep going and to surpass those numbers,” Wedholm said, noting those 2025 figures consist of 34 percent of children and 15 percent of seniors.
The community cupboard also distributed more than 400,000 pounds of food and dispensed another 27,000 pounds of food to area food pantries.
“We don’t anticipate this growing need to stop anytime soon, especially due to the federal budget cuts happening on a daily basis, affecting the most vulnerable population, many of whom are our clients,” Wedholm said.
More than 1.7 million people, including 475,230 children in Pennsylvania experience hunger, according to statistics from Feeding America.
“Far too many families are facing the impossible choice between paying for groceries and keeping a roof over their heads, and we know that these choices will get even more difficult with Federal cuts to SNAP and other food assistance programs. This means the vital services and resources this team provides are needed now more than ever,” said state Sen. Maria Collett, D-12th Dist.
52 years in Ambler
Established in 1973, the Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard has been serving people in and around Ambler for 52 years. Wedholm marveled at the efforts of the organization’s namesake.
“The woman who started it all, Maddie Dixon. She saw a need in her community and her neighborhood, with people struggling to put food onto the tables on a regular basis,” she said.
Ronald Lonan, 69, of Ambler, has worked as a custodian at a church in Ambler for the last 25 years and has been a longtime client of the community cupboard. Lonan frequented “back when Mattie Dixon was still alive.” He said he remembers her fondly. “She was like a mom to me,” Lonan said.
Goode’s been patronizing Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard for more than two decades.
“I’m low income,” she said, “things are very expensive and that’s why I come here.”
“It has a great impact on the community because lots of people come here, and it’s lots of low income people that come here because we need the source. We do especially in times that it’s hard times now. It’s really hard,” Goode said.
Providing more than food
While the full choice pantry is the latest development, the organization offers a myriad of case management services, including emergency financial assistance, blood pressure checks and an after-school homework club held at Ambler Borough Hall.
The community cupboard also reopened its clothing boutique in a separate structure on the property and has a satellite food pantry in North Hills for those residing in the 19038 zip code.
Relocating the clothing boutique freed up needed space to bring the self-service pantry to fruition. Wedholm estimated it cost nearly $50,000 to transform the space, bringing a sense of normalcy and destigmatizing the overall experience.
“I’ve always thought of a food pantry as just a non-traditional route to provide food for your family, and I think that’s really just the mentality that I really want to portray … is there’s no shame in coming to a food pantry,” she said. “Things are hard right now, things are really difficult out there, and so if there’s a resource that you can use, please … utilize our services.”
It was a welcome change for Goode and Lonan.
“They got a lot of nice stuff in here. You can go through and take your shopping cart through here,” he said.
“It feels more personal now. Because they talk to you,” Goode said. “They come out and they have conversations with you and you get to know them. It’s a lovely environment here.”
With food pantries like Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard offer sustenance and fostering a sense of belonging, Ambler Mayor Jean Sorg underscored the pillar it plays within the community as this new model helps those in need.
“We all should have our dignity, and this gives people that dignity,” Sorg said.
