READING, Pa. – No matter how far you go, you never forget where you come from. A local food bank is getting a big financial boost, thanks to singer-songwriter and Berks County native Taylor Swift and her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank received a gift of $1 million, the bank said in a news release.
The bank says Swift has a history of supporting organizations that work to combat food insecurity.
In December 2025, she donated $1 million to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the country, according to the news release.
Helping Harvest is the Partner Food Bank of Feeding America that serves Berks and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania.
“She grew up here in Berks County, lots of people call her Berks County’s ‘sweetheart,’ and for her to make a donation, she really has done a tremendous service to people who need her help here in Berks County,” said Jay Worrall, the president of the Helping Harvest Food Bank.
Helping Harvest says it has seen a huge increase in demand for food assistance over the last several months and has distributed record amounts of food so far this year.
In the first five months of 2026, the food bank says it distributed over 5.3 million pounds of food in Berks and Schuylkill counties and is on pace to distribute over 14 million pounds by year’s end (2025 set a previous distribution record at 11.1 million pounds).
“We were so excited to learn of this unexpected but greatly appreciated donation from a global superstar who grew up right here in our service territory, Taylor Swift, and her fiancé, Travis Kelce,” said Helping Harvest President Jay Worrall.
Ahead of what many are calling America’s royal wedding, Swift and Kelce are sharing their good fortune by donating to food banks before saying “I do.”
“We were one of 26 million-dollar gifts nationwide. How generous is that?” Worrall said. “One of the biggest donations we’ve ever received, and to get it out of the blue like this.”
The money comes at a time when the need is higher than ever.
“At a time when more neighbors than ever are coming to food banks for assistance, Taylor and Travis’ generosity will enable us to continue fulfilling our mission of providing nutritious food to people facing hunger in our communities,” Worrall said.
“We believe that’s because the lingering effects of inflation and fuel prices have people looking to us to help them with their food budgets, and we’re going through a series of reductions to the SNAP program,” Worrall said. “As those SNAP payments are reduced, people are forced to come to our pantries looking for food.”
So how exactly will the money be used?
“We’ll use the money to help us rescue more food so like most food banks were an organization that invests in infrastructure, transportation, the warehouse that we have in Spring Township, and we’ll be able to invest in that infrastructure so we can get more food donated to us that would otherwise go to waste and we can’t return hat food to people who need it.” Worrall says.