SHIM, Bethel-St. Clair Meals on Wheels hosting emergency food drive

Two South Hills organizations are teaming up for an emergency food drive due to the coronavirus pandemic.

South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM) and Bethel-St. Clair Meals on Wheels will host the drive 10 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays beginning Monday at the Bethel Park Community Center, 5151 Park Ave. in Bethel Park.

Kimberly Weightman, public relations coordinator for the municipality of Bethel Park, said that the drive is to ensure that Bethel Park’s senior citizens and those who can’t get to the store due to health reasons or lack of money will have what they need during this difficult time.

The organizations are asking for fresh foods — such as apples, oranges and bananas — as well as non-perishables like cans of soup, individual boxes of cereal and macaroni and cheese, protein bars, spaghetti or pasta noodles and individual bags of chips. Water, Gatorade, juice and juice boxes are also among the items needed.

“The folks that we serve are basically shut-ins and they cannot cook or shop for adequate foods or make meals for themselves,” said Dorothy Vandruff, kitchen coordinator for Bethel-St. Clair Meals on Wheels, in a news release. “We send out a hot meal and a cold bag lunch Monday through Friday with the hot meal set up like a TV dinner so all they have to do is microwave it.”

Typically, the only human interaction that those shut-ins have is when the Meals on Wheels deliveries are made, but Weightman said that volunteers will be bagging everything up and leaving it at the door. But, “They don’t like that because they can’t make contact and say hi,” Weightman said.

Additional precautions will be taken during the collection. Volunteers will wear gloves and stay at least six feet away from each other. Weightman said that the food won’t be handled much and that donations will be distributed within a day.

For more information on the food drive, visit shimcares.org or bethelparkmealsonwheels.com.