The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s Empty Bowls dinner is the latest casualty in the fight to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The food bank and Just Harvest, the other sponsor of the event, announced the cancellation Thursday. The event was to be held Sunday at Rodef Shalom, but organizers said they would heed advice on social distancing and reschedule the event. A new date was not announced.

The event would have been a celebration of the dinner’s 25th anniversary at a time when leaders at local food banks are preparing for the worst-case scenario as they service the region’s more vulnerable members despite the spread of the coronavirus.

In a statement Thursday, the Pittsburgh food bank said it is continuing its normal food distribution practices while closely monitoring the situation and will follow all recommendations from health officials.

Volunteer shortages, bolstering sanitation efforts and finding ways to supply food to pantry-dependent residents who might be quarantined for two weeks are the topic of contingency plans in the works for local organizations.

“Hopefully, we won’t have to use it now, but we’ll be prepared,” Westmoreland County Food Bank CEO Jennifer Miller said of the plans, noting that officials are working with Feeding America, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for additional aid.

While plans have not been finalized, Miller said officials are considering a mobile pantry that can go into smaller neighborhoods to ensure people are able to utilize the offered services. Internally, officials are examining shipping and receiving services, human resources, food safety, supply chain, volunteers, delegation of authority and the budget.

The food bank has 44 pantries across the county serving 7,000 families a month, or about 18,000 people.

At the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, officials are taking additional measures to clean equipment and ensure the dining area is sterilized.

A formal plan has not been finalized, but officials are considering a drive-up distribution center and scoping out another location in case the current one can’t be used, said Brian Gulish, vice president of marketing and communications for the organization.

He said officials could take advantage of existing programs, like prepackaged boxes of food often used in serving elderly populations, to better reach quarantined people.

“I know a lot of vulnerable populations for those are older populations,” Gulish said, noting the boxes could last for the 14-day quarantine period. “We do have senior boxes. … We already have those boxes packed and will be distributing them to people in need.”

Vulnerable populations

According to experts, elderly people and those with underlying health conditions are the most vulnerable to the virus.

For Meals on Wheels in North Huntingdon, recipients are typically 65 or older, according to board president Joyce McCurdy. She said officials are concerned about those they serve. Plans for combating the virus have not been set for the nonprofit, but officials will discuss the topic during a board meeting next week.

“The only real contact we have directly with the recipient is as we deliver the food,” McCurdy said. “The food is delivered by one individual and handed to the recipient, so it would be a one-on-one contact.”

At the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, employees and volunteers are asked to stay home if they are sick and call a doctor if a fever or cough are present.

Miller said Westmoreland food bank volunteers are being asked to take similar precautions, and the nonprofit plans on giving out gloves and hand sanitizer in an effort to reduce the number of volunteers lost to illness.

“We are able to recruit,” Miller said about the volunteers. “We have a big outreach tool — we can send out an email blast to get volunteers at the ready.”

The food bank relied on more than 6,200 volunteers last year. If the coronavirus hits the Pittsburgh region, they could need more, Miller said.

Other concerns for Miller include the cost the virus could inflict on the organization.

Changing food to non-perishable items that could last through a quarantine would be an additional expense, Miller said. The organization does have reserve funding that could be used, “but that will only go so far and needs to be replenished as soon as possible,” she said.

Food banks across the country are facing similar challenges, The New York Times reported.

The Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County in Connecticut is struggling to keep food stockpiled as the demand rises out of fear of the virus, the Stamford-Advocate reported. The food bank serves more than 90 agencies in the county. Officials are reaching out to the public for food donations.

Some food banks in Washington state are experiencing volunteer shortages, King 5 News reported, as more people are asked to remain at home due to the coronavirus.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is offering daily updates on the virus and the impact it is having on the organization. As of Tuesday, no volunteers at the site tested positive for the virus and operations were continuing as normal.

“We’re just really kind of playing it by ear at this point,” Miller said, noting that there have been no confirmed cases in Westmoreland or Allegheny counties.

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