By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

In a close-knit community, sometimes it may feel as if you always have your finger on the pulse. You know what’s happening and the who, where and when of whatever news occurs through town. 

Unfortunately, however, that may not always be the case. You may not be aware of who goes without a warm meal every night or who doesn’t have a house or even a bed to call their own. However, SILO in Oxford makes a point not only to find and support those who need it, but to become friends with them as well.

SILO - which stands for Serving, Inspiring and Loving Others - has been serving the Oxford community as a non-profit organization for the past 14 years, focusing primarily on providing support for those experiencing food insecurity and homelessness through programs such as food deliveries, street outreach, emergency assistance, monthly community meals and more.

“We do a lot of good, but the foundation is the relationships we build with people,” said Executive Director Melissa Pacella. “We call the people that we work with friends, and it’s very authentic.”

Pacella and her husband Andrea have been involved at SILO since the beginning. Pacella has a unique background in community service and social justice that started when she was a student at Messiah University. After graduating, Pacella started an “intentional community” in Camden, N.J. with other newly graduated students.

“We lived together in a neighborhood that was challenged with drugs, prostitution, economic challenge, as well as limited opportunities for students,” she said. “We moved into the community, renovated a house, lived there in that house together, worked in the schools and at afterschool programs, using our skills to make that community a better place.”

Pacella spent seven years living with the community before meeting her husband Andrea in Spain and moving to Philadelphia. She was first introduced to SILO while organizing a festival in the Nottingham area 14 years ago; Pacella was looking for new work at the time and felt that SILO was the perfect fit, so the couple relocated to Oxford in order to join the team.

“With SILO, I saw the focus was on – and it’s even in the name - Serving, Inspiring and Loving Others – so it’s about coming along side of people, building friendships with folks who might be struggling and going through a hard time, and helping them as we’re able.”

According to their statistics, SILO has certainly been “able” to help in the Oxford community. Pacella shared that the community garden had an average of 107 visitors each month and grew and gave away 1,500 pounds of food last year. SILO paid $18,845 in rent and utility support, preventing 122 individuals from eviction and the Delivering Hope food delivery initiative delivered 3,659 prepared meals to 854 individuals and in total delivered food to 1,544 friends.

In the 14 years Pacella has been assisting friends in need in Oxford, she shared that food insecurity and housing have consistently been community members’ largest concerns. According to the United States Census Bureau, 23.82 percent of Oxford’s population lives below the poverty line, which is double the rate of Pennsylvania and more than triple the rate of Chester County. Additionally, 57 percent of households in Oxford Borough are below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold, meaning they live above the poverty line but do not make enough to always afford the basics.

The need for SILO services has always been prevalent in the community, but according to Pacella, that need is only increasing.

“We have a lot more requests for housing and emergency assistance, and while we provide some small amount of financial assistance, it’s not nearly enough to match what the need is in our community,” Pacella said. “A lot of people are losing work, including many who were working in the government. People who maybe never needed support before are coming to SILO requesting food and rental assistance.”

Though Pacella feels needs are increasing, resources are not. The April 1 cancellation of a $250,000 USDA food order to the Chester County Food Bank will have a direct impact on SILO as 80-90 percent of their food is from the food bank, Pacella explained.

“The amount of people we would be able to help would not be as many, or people would not receive as much food,” she said. “The biggest concern is that this is long term and that will obviously have a pretty big impact.”

Pacella credited the team at the food bank for their management of resources and feels that while both the food bank and SILO have reserves to cover the “very significant blip,” funding moving forward is unpredictable and puts the organization in a tough position.

“It was challenging when inflation increased,” she said. “It puts our organization in a challenging position that we want to be sure we’re able to address the needs and we’re going to need more support from the community to be able to do that fully.”

The challenge and uncertainty facing Pacella and the team at SILO has not been easy to bear, but the nature of the work forces everyone to keep pushing forward, Pacella shared.

“It is a hard road right now,” she said. “We’ve got an amazing team. Our staff is great, our volunteers are amazing and frequent interaction with people who are struggling keeps us moving forward, doing as much as we can for as long as we can.”

Pacella encouraged the community to get involved through food drives, volunteering and donating, noting that you too could one day be benefitting from the same services.

“At any point the people we are helping could be ourselves,” Pacella said. “Everyone’s one crisis away from an emergency.”

To contact Contributing Writer Gabbie Burton, email [email protected].