Westmoreland food bank sees steady supply of volunteers amid pandemic

Sizable unemployment numbers due to the coronavirus shutdown in Western Pennsylvania have meant longer lines at area food banks.

Those same numbers, however, also have translated to a larger pool of volunteers to help out, which is welcome news to Westmoreland County Food Bank Executive Director Jennifer Miller, who said some locations were in “desperate need” of volunteers in mid-March.

“The volunteers have been amazing,” Miller said. “We haven’t had to want for volunteers since the very beginning. The community is very, very supportive, especially now with people not working and coming in to lend a hand.”

Ten members of the Murrysville-Export Rotary Club worked an assembly line at the food bank’s Delmont warehouse on Wednesday. Miller estimated that more than 1,000 volunteers had come through the doors since the pandemic began last month.

That does not account for the food bank’s partner pantries, which Miller said would put the number closer to 3,000. All but five of the bank’s pantry sites have remained open, typically doing drive-through service.

“There are a few who have had to do low-touch service, with people coming to the doors to pick up food,” Miller said. “There are some areas where a drive-through just doesn’t work. But there is no paperwork to sign and no exchanging of pens or anything like that.”

In Allegheny County, Wilkinsburg Community Ministry Executive Director Ruth Kittner has had to adjust to a sharp uptick in clientele.

“In mid to late March, the churches closed up their food pantries,” Kittner said. “So a huge burden has fallen on the non-church pantries. But this is why we exist: to give out food.”

Whereas a typical month would see the nonprofit ministry handing out between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds of food, “it’s been about that much per week lately,” Kittner said. “We’re open four to five hours a day, and we serve a household every five or six minutes.”

As with the Westmoreland County Food Bank, the downturn in employment has been an unfortunate silver lining when it comes to getting volunteers to help out.

“Right now, we’re pretty good,” Kittner said. “Once partial employment opens back up, we’ll need some more volunteers.”

It is also difficult to get enough produce from the ministry’s supplier, the Greater Pittsburgh Area Food Bank, she said.

“We’re going to have to go out and buy food,” she said. “We try to encourage people to cook healthy, to use spices, herbs, garlic, that sort of thing. And we have to go somewhere like Restaurant Depot to buy those things.”

In Westmoreland, Miller said the food bank has been able to maintain a steady supply of the dry goods, freezer and cooler products they need for clients.

“We’ve been OK,” Miller said. “We’re not really seeing any horrible waits for product. When we order it, we do have to wait a little bit longer than we’re used to, but understanding the situation, it hasn’t been an issue.”

Rotary volunteers prepared nearly 650 boxes, loading 18 pallets to ship off to area food pantries.

“People really understand the need and the focus,” Miller said.