Hundreds of cars line up for help from Pittsburgh food bank
Hundreds of cars lined up Monday waiting to receive boxes of food from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank amid the covid-19 crisis.
Unlike last week, the cars were not lining up to get into the Kennywood parking lot but across the street from the food bank’s headquarters in Duquesne. There was more food to be given away.
Organizers were prepared to serve 1,700 families, a hundred more than last week when some people were turned away.
“We planned for a hundred more because we’re at our home base, not knowing how many people are going to come out. We just want to make sure we’re prepared,” said Charlese McKinney, network development director of the food bank.
McKinney estimated that 300 cars were already lined up when the food giveaway began at noon. It was scheduled to last until 3 p.m.
“It’s a little bit different this time because we wanted to minimize the impact we were having on traffic,” said McKinney.
Dozens of volunteers lined up on either side of Grant Avenue loading two boxes of food items into the back seats and trunks of each car.
One box contained canned goods and dry food items such as pasta. The other box was filled with frozen meats. McKinney said it was enough food to sustain an average-sized family for about five days. She said the crowd included more first-time visitors than before.
One of the recipients, Bob Sabol, 66, of Whitaker said every bit of food helps in this emergency.
“I’m on a limited income, because I was more or less laid off because of the virus,” said Whitaker. “This helps a lot, because after my Social Security it leaves me $300 a month for groceries, gas and maintenance on two vehicles. I’m very grateful.”
As the steady line of cars rolled through, volunteer and University of Pittsburgh pre-med student Michael Sutton, 20, of Mars, shuttled boxes of food to a silver Hyundai Elantra.
The woman behind the wheel told Sutton to put them in the back seat. Sutton explained that even with the work he’s doing for his online classes and filling out medical school applications, he has nothing better to do.
“It feels great,” he said. “You can see it in their faces. Some of them are too embarrassed to say anything because this is their first time receiving from the food bank. But you can see just how much they appreciate it because they need the help.”
Volunteer Kathleen Mihm, 52, of Wexford has five children at home. She felt it was important to come out to help distribute food.
“As you can see, the boxes aren’t really big but people are so appreciative of what little they are getting,” said Mihm. “You just see so many people come together when people are nervous, scared and it’s nice to see everybody come together to help those less fortunate.”
McKinney said the food bank still hasn’t decided if it will hold another drive-up giveaway next week.
Meanwhile, the food bank announced Monday afternoon that it is discouraging traditional food drives until further notice because of the spread of the coronavirus. The food bank said it made the decision to ensure the safety of its staff and the community as well as to better allocate employee time to packing food boxes, sorting bulk produce and conducting enhanced cleaning procedures.
“Every food drive donation that comes through our doors requires a staff member or volunteer to sort, organize, and repack,” said Lisa Scales, president and CEO of the food bank. “With our current temporary restriction of volunteers at our warehouse and the need to get food to our neighbors experiencing hunger in a timely and safe fashion, we are requesting monetary donations in lieu of food donations at this time.”
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