Open house planned for expanded market on 7th space at lccm

Lebanon County Christian Ministries is expanding its Market on 7th and will host an open house for the new space at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 17, 2025.
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The market serves roughly 800-1000 families every two weeks and relies on multiple staff members and roughly 15-20 volunteers for daily operations. 

In June of 2024, the board of directors approved a new two-year strategic plan. One of the strategic priorities was to transition to a new intake system for individuals who are seeking resources, and close the clothing bank to provide the space to expand the current Market on 7th to better serve the many guests utilizing this crucial program.

In August, the clothing bank closed, the new process for supporting individuals experiencing a clothing crisis and utility assistance started in September, and construction of the new market space at LCCM began in November. 


Construction will wrap up in December and the work will begin to prepare the new space for the move.

“We are going to move a few things around that will not impact our operations and get through the scheduling challenges of the holidays,” said Bryan Smith, executive director. Smith is referring to the disruption the Market on 7th will experience during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

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​The Market on 7th will be open on Monday and Thursday of Christmas week, closed on the 24th and 25th, then open Monday and Thursday the week of New Years, and closed on the 30th and 31st. A full week of market operations is planned for the week of the January 6, 2025. 

“There really is not an easy way to continue operations while needing to make this move," Smith said. "We need to move refrigeration, shelving, restock, and test out our new flow for our guests.”

The new flow will consist of bringing guests in to the climate-controlled space prior to the market opening each day to get registered and connect with community partners. The current market space will become the community connection and wait area, and will provide three community partner information tables where local organizations can set up to engage those who might need their services.

“This is a priority for us. We feel strongly that we want to bring resources to our guests, meeting them where they are, and making impact,” Smith said. “We are striving to continue best practice work in Lebanon County in regard to charitable food distribution."

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The Market on 7th will be closed the week of January 13, and will reopen on Monday, Jan. 20 at noon.

The open house at 10 am Jan. 17 will begin with opening remarks at 10:20 followed by guests being welcome to walk through the renovated space. 

In July 2023, Lebanon County Christian Ministries opened the Market on 7th, a client choice food pantry where guests in the Lebanon, Cornwall-Lebanon and ELCO school district areas can shop for their own groceries once every 14 days year round.

The market was launched in response to the food insecurity issue in Lebanon County, and in particular, the City of Lebanon. 

Lebanon city is home to 18% of the total population but 39% of all food insecure individuals.

​Children are 71% more likely to experience food insecurity than adults in Lebanon County with a food insecurity rate of 14.4% compared to 8.4% for adults. This is one of the largest differentials in Pennsylvania and is driven by elevated child poverty rates (38% on average in the high food insecurity areas).

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