Food banks still operating in 'emergency mode,' seeing increased demand in Western Pa.

While mile-long lines of cars outside the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank are not the norm these days, the need to provide food to struggling families in Southwestern Pennsylvania remains.

“We’ve been in response mode to the crisis for the last three months, and we continue to see a higher need than pre-covid,” said Lisa Scales, president and CEO of the regional food bank based in Duquesne. “The average high at our drive-up distributions peaked at about 800 cars per day, and now we’re averaging about 500.”

Scales said she doesn’t necessarily view the drop as an indication that the need has lessened.

“I believe it’s due to an increased awareness of food availability through our pantry network,” she said. “Over 94% of our food pantries have remained open throughout the crisis, and 15% have expanded their hours of service.”

In the past three months, Scales said the food bank has distributed more than 10 million pounds of food, a 54% increase over the same period in 2019.

In Westmoreland, county food bank executive director Jennifer Miller said things have been “calming down, but we’re still seeing a lot of new people who have never accessed food banks before.”

Miller estimated that at their peak, the county food bank in Delmont distributed food to 9,500 families per month. Those numbers have dropped by roughly 1,000, but they are still significantly higher than the 7,000 families per month the food bank typically served before covid-19.

And while the region has moved into the green phase of Gov. Wolf’s state reopening plan, day-to-day operations at the food bank remain the same.

“We’re still operating in emergency mode,” Miller said. “We’re pre-packing all of our boxes through the end of 2020. We’re concerned if there would happen to be a second wave, but also just to keep to the low-touch or no-touch strategy.”

As with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, clients provide their information and food boxes are placed directly into their trunks.

“It’s very safe and sanitary, and we think that’s of the utmost importance,” Miller said. “We’ll make a decision in the fall as to whether we’ll continue that into 2021.”

And while the Westmoreland food bank has brought in volunteers to pre-pack boxes going to its food pantries, Greater Pittsburgh officials only recently began welcoming back volunteers.

“In order to not have quite as many people, we looked for volunteers who could commit to three shifts per week,” Scales said. “(On Wednesday), we were talking about rolling that out and getting back to having larger numbers of volunteers.”

Scales said volunteers are still needed at the Greater Pittsburgh drive-up distributions and for its home-delivery program. Those interested in volunteering can do so by clicking on the “Volunteers” link at PittsburghFoodBank.org.

Miller welcomed volunteers at the Westmoreland food bank as well, and encouraged anyone interested to visit its website and sign up for an activity that fits their schedule.

“We have wonderful volunteers and the spaces fill up fast,” Miller said.

Anyone interested in volunteering in Westmoreland County can visit westmorelandfoodbank.org/volunteer.