Pennsylvania's charitable food network and food assistance programs continue to ensure no Pennsylvanians are going hungry amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Wolf administration officials said Wednesday. 

Administration officials from the departments of Agriculture and Human Services (DHS) on Wednesday met to discuss the highlights of life-sustaining food assistance programs under disaster declarations issued by Gov. Wolf. 

The declarations have allowed the administration to provide more than $1 billion in federally funded food assistance and other resources. 

The discussion comes as Pennsylvanians head to the polls next month to choose whether the state should continue with its existing disaster declaration process or create a new one. 

Food insecurity has increased in Pennsylvania by 30 percent since 2019, according to Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. 

"As we work to recover from the pandemic, we hope to continue having resources available for the nearly 1.5 million Pennsylvanians projected to face food insecurity in 2021," said Redding. "Recovery takes time and Pennsylvanians deserve to rest easy knowing their government has their back.”