Murphy's Giving Market: A Hub for Community Care

A group of volunteers outside of the Market

It’s easy to miss the logo bearing a little red shopping cart above an unassuming storefront in Upper Darby. The front entrance to Murphy’s Giving Market might fool unsuspecting passersby into believing that not much goes on there. But around the back, you’ll find an alleyway of bustling activity where many of Delco’s older adults come to shop, socialize, and build community with one another.

Gathered on park benches constructed DIY-style by Murphy’s staff, old friends catch up, and make new friends too, eagerly waiting to hear their number called. Around them, children play, explore, and chalk the sidewalk, communicating in some of the dozens of languages spoken in this highly diverse section of Delaware County. Once their number is called, families are greeted with an abundance of fresh produce, fresh flowers, meats, dairy, baked goods, hygiene products, and more. This full-service, take-what-you-need supermarket for food-insecure households is the brainchild of the Market’s executive director, Desireé Murphy Morrissey.

It’s impossible to talk about Murphy’s Giving Market without centering Murphy Morrissey. As busy as the Market and its patrons keep her, she somehow manages a full-time job as a special needs coordinator for the School District of Philadelphia, in addition to being Upper Darby School District’s School Board President and a mother of five. Still, she knows each shopper by name and asks for updates on how they’re doing. She knows who needs what and makes sure everyone is pointed in the right direction.

Her care for others is informed by her lived experience as someone who was once food insecure. Murphy Morrisey has shared how she and her young family relied on SNAP and food pantries to get through hard times. When a devastating fire wiped out almost everything she owned in 2001, her resolve for helping those in need only strengthened. She never wanted anyone to feel that level of pain.

In 2020, as food pantries across the county shuttered, Murphy Morrissey offered her backyard as a storage space for pallets of food that pantries could no longer take. When neighbors started noticing and asking if they could have some, of course she obliged. Those interactions marked the early stages of Murphy’s Giving Market, now in its sixth year, housed in a space it purchased in 2025. About a third of those served by the Market are older adults. And the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors persists — nearly 100 volunteers donate their time and effort to keep the Market running.

Many older adults who come for food end up leaving with much more — new recipes, vaccinations, a mammogram appointment. A truly comprehensive community resource hub, the Market partners with local government, nonprofit, and mental health organizations to offer counseling, benefits enrollment assistance, and the kind of help seniors need to navigate daily life.

One group of older adults in particular stood out on a brisk spring morning at the end of March. Four women stood at the corner bus stop with full carts and shopping bags. Dubbed “The Golden Girls,” Murphy Morrissey tells me that these women, who live together in Overbrook, come each week to stock up. Thankfully, the SEPTA stop is close by. Although the Market doesn’t deliver to Overbrook, just a couple of miles away, Overbrook comes to the Market. The Golden Girls are a constant fixture at the Market, and a constant reminder of its reach.

Murphy’s Giving Market is a prime example of community care and resilience, uplifting the aging population through multiple pathways of support. Saunders House Foundation is honored to partner with them and help alleviate burdens on seniors in need.