Penn Hills High School football team eager to help community with food distribution
Penn Hills High School football players scored some much-needed points for their community as they helped give food to hundreds of families.
The players loaded boxes upon boxes of meat, produce, dairy goods and milk into cars outside the school’s main entrance as part of a USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program food distribution on Oct. 22.
“It’s a pleasure to help people who are in need,” said Shane Reese, a senior linebacker and running back. “The pandemic has been hard on everybody. For us to be able to help is pretty memorable, especially for my last year. It’s a senior year I won’t forget.”
Reese moved milk and meats. He and the other volunteers wore masks. Students at times worked like an assembly line passing boxes to one another from the food pallets.
“With everything that has happened this year, this has pretty much brought us all closer together,” Reese said. “We haven’t communicated with one another like how we have right now. This past year, we really have helped pick each other up when others were down.”
Coach Jon LeDonne said he is proud of how the young men work as a team both on and off the field.
“It’s an opportunity to help give back to the community,” LeDonne said. “My guys are pretty good. Any time they’re asked to help out and do something, they’re willing to step up and help the community out. They’re responding well. Like any other high school teenager, you’ve got to stay on them once in a while.
“Some folks are falling on hard times right now and having trouble feeding their families, their kids and whatnot. This provides a little relief for them, especially folks who have lost jobs and whatever’s going on with the crisis.”
The food box program is designed to help farmers, food banks and those in need of food, according to the USDA.
Fresh produce, dairy and meat products are purchased from American farms and companies. Distributors package these products into family-sized boxes, then transport them to food banks, community and faith-based organizations, and other nonprofits serving Americans in need, according to the USDA.
It donated enough food to feed at least 480 families.
Sandy Streb and Nicole Hite were among the people who picked up food.
“This is fantastic,” Streb said. “The kids today, I think, get a bad rap. The 99% of them are good kids if you give them something to do. We’ve got to work to give them something positive to do and not just let them run.”
Hite commended the district for hosting such an event. She has a son, Joshua Garland, at the high school and another child at the elementary school.
The remaining food was donated to the Rosedale Food Pantry, which serves thousands of people from Penn Hills, Verona and surrounding communities.
Michael DiVittorio is a TribLive reporter covering general news in Western Pennsylvania, with a penchant for festivals and food. He can be reached at mdivittorio@triblive.com.
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