Monroeville hotel brings back some workers for food relief effort
A Monroeville hotel has set out to prepare and deliver 240,000 meals to people across Western Pennsylvania by May 15.
On Monday, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh - Monroeville Convention Center was well on its way after beginning the undertaking April 13.
“It sounded easier when we started planning this,” said Nick Hankinson, the hotel’s chef.
Still, he and his team of 30 crank out up to 3,000 meals every day. Each meal, packed in an aluminum pan, can feed a family of four. By the end of the week, Hankinson said, that translates to roughly 45,000 pounds of food.
The initiative is part of a statewide effort, funded by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, to deliver 700,000 meals to people in need during the covid-19 pandemic.
To help the initiative move efficiently, the hotel was equipped with two semi-trucks used as freezers. Another truck is used as a cooler. The hotel is already equipped with an industrial-grade kitchen, along with five coolers and a freezer, Hankinson said.
Hotel staff worked Monday packing the meals in a large conference room filled with rows of folding tables. Each row had around 200 empty aluminum pans that a crew worked to fill with meat, a starch and a vegetable.
As those pans were filled, another crew loaded 165 of them on a pallet, which is then transferred to a freezer, where it sits for 24 hours before being shipped. The idea is to keep meals frozen up to the point it gets to a family’s kitchen.
“All they have to do is heat it up,” said Don Andrezjwski, vice president of sales and marketing for the hotel’s owner, Prospera Hospitality.
When the pandemic brought the state and nation’s economy to a halt in March, the hotel furloughed 90% of its staff. It remains open today, but only with around 15 guests, about 11% occupancy, Andrezjwski said.
The food program, however, has brought back 30 of the hotel’s employees.
“This is quite the operation. It’s a big undertaking,” said Andrezjwski.
But he said the hotel is uniquely set up to handle the task because it caters food and beverage needs for the Monroeville Convention Center, which is located directly next to the hotel along Mall Plaza Boulevard.
The food, according to Gov. Tom Wolf’s “Plan for Pennsylvania,” is being provided through a partnership between Operation BBQ Relief and Salvation Army.
Operation BBQ Relief, a national organization that delivers food during natural disasters, has delivered nearly 735,000 meals since April 8 through partnering with restaurants and hotels like the DoubleTree in Monroeville, according to its website.
The bulk of those meals, 535,000, have been delivered to areas in Pennsylvania.
The DoubleTree hotel in Monroeville delivers the food daily using two trucks to Salvation Army sites in Pittsburgh, Williamsport and Altoona. Other restaurants and hotels are delivering food to the eastern half of the state.
Andrezjwski said he expects the hotel to continue the operation through the end of May.
“We’re waiting on word from the state on a possible extension,” he said.
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