Hempfield neighborhood raises more than $2,000 for food bank

The residents of the South Meadow at Lindwood development in Hempfield have long been a tight-knit bunch, according to Joseph Lanza, president of the condominium association.

In a normal year, many of the neighborhood’s roughly 120 residents gather for monthly social events. When one of them gets sick, their neighbors make sure they have more meals than they know what to do with.

“The ladies in the community, they all go bonkers and take food over there and whatnot,” Lanza said.

That generosity extends beyond their neighborhood. Every December the association raises money for the Westmoreland County Food Bank at its Christmas social, usually gathering about $800. This year they raised a lot more — $2,065 to help the food bank.

“I think our residents really stepped up,” Lanza said.

The usual Christmas social was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Karen Peltier, who organizes social events for the association, decided the fundraiser must go on.

“I decided to canvass the neighborhood for donations, so I went to every home with an envelope, and I put a little note on the front of each one,” she said.

Each envelope contained raffle tickets and a call for donation. Peltier set out a basket where people could drop off their envelopes.

“It was so much fun going there every day, and there would be several envelopes in that basket.”

Lanza said this new method of fundraising reached more people.

“This year we reached out to a lot of people, some of our elderly residents can’t make it to the socials for one reason or another, but they donated.”

The pandemic has hit close to home in the neighborhood which has many elderly residents, according to Lanza. Several residents have died due to coronavirus, he said.

Peltier said the success of the fundraiser shows how the community looks out for each other.

“Even with the pandemic we seem to still be able to stay in touch,” she said. “It’s just a lovely place to live.”