Pittsburgh partners with food bank with help from firefighters

A pilot program will enable Pittsburgh firefighters to distribute food to residents in need who often call 911 for non-emergency health and safety concerns.

The program — a collaboration between Mayor Bill Peduto’s office, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, the Office of Community Health and Safety and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank — aims to ensure residents in need have access to nonperishable food.

The pilot program will focus on meeting the needs of residents identified through the Office of Community Health and Safety’s and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire’s High Utilizer Program. Firefighters can refer people who frequently call 911 for non-emergency health and safety situations to the initiative.

Through the pilot program, firefighters will be able to offer those people shelf-stable food provided by the food bank.

“When firefighters identify a household in crisis, we want to be able to provide them with food assistance as quickly as possible,” said Lisa Scales, president and CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. “This new initiative gives families immediate support and then further connects them to resources that can provide stability in the future.”

The program will help the food bank connect with those people to help them find nearby food pantries that meet their needs. They can also help those people find additional assistance with SNAP and other services.

“Too many members of our community have unmet needs, including food insecurity, that impacts their mental and physical well-being,” Mayor Bill Peduto said. “Working with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire and OCH&S and the Food Bank, we are able to pair high utilizers of public safety services with shelf-stable food to improve the overall health of our residents.”