Leechburg Food Bank prepares for first Walk for Hunger

People in the Leechburg area have the opportunity to walk for a cause.

A Walk for Hunger will be held Oct. 5 to benefit the Leechburg Food Bank and Community Providing Alternatives to Hunger (PATH) on the new Leechburg Tow Path Trail.

Community PATH is a program funded by the food bank in which students are given bags of food to take home for the weekends during the school year.

“We’re just trying to raise funds to supplement our food distributions,” said the Rev. James Arter, minister of Cross Roads and First Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Beginning at 2 p.m., participants are invited to gather in the Leechburg Fire Hall parking lot. Folks will walk the Tow Path Trail to the former Allegheny Ludlum Bagdad steel mill and back. Despite the route being about 3 miles, Arter said the event is friendly for any level of mobility.

“People can walk whatever distance they want to walk,” Arter said. “If you want to participate in the event, all you have to do is show up.”

He said the food bank assists more than 100 households in the area, and PATH served 113 Leechburg Area students last school year. He said a bag for PATH costs about $5 to fill. The cost of meal distribution for the food bank is dependent on what the county can supply to the organization, Arter said.

“The best way to help a food bank to help raise money rather than doing canned food drives,” he said.

Depending on what donations the county sends for the food bank to distribute, volunteers will use monetary donations or even their own money to purchase things such as eggs, cheese, toilet paper and other products to distribute.

“It’s hard to know what we’re going to need,” Arter said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing a lot less food coming from the county lately. It really makes it that much more important for us to make sure we have enough to give.”

Leechburg Mayor Doreen Smeal has been volunteering at the food bank for several years.

“I get to see firsthand and talk to the people who are receiving the food from the food bank. It’s difficult to understand how some of these people actually survive month-to-month,” Smeal said. “I’m hoping that this walk for hunger will make others aware how the food bank works and what kind of cuts we are expecting.”

Arter said people can get involved in Walk for Hunger in a few ways.

People can make independent donations or sponsor a team of walkers and bring their donations to the event.

Local businesses are also invited to sponsor the event. Businesses that donate more than $500 will have advertisement signs placed along the trail. Businesses that donate less than $500 will be featured on the event sign with all businesses that donated. The deadline for businesses interested in sponsoring the event is two weeks prior.

“The walk for hunger will be a family event,” Smeal said. “A day to get out take a little walk no matter how far you go. Let’s enjoy each other’s company.”

Checks should be made payable to the Leechburg Food Bank. For more information, visit the Leechburg Food Bank website.