People tend to stay indoors more in the winter, but Rick Steele is hoping folks will take a walk to one of Greensburg’s three little food pantries to drop off a few supplies.
The need is just as great in cold weather as it is in warm weather, said Steele, president of Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department, whose junior firefighters founded the program in 2019.
The pantries are located in the South Pennsylvania Avenue parklet, near the amphitheater in St. Clair Park and in the firefighters’ pavilion at Lynch Field.
“With the pandemic, there’s increased need out there,” Steele said. “Obviously, the pantries are not going to provide everything that someone needs, but they’re a good supplement.”
Don’t worry about food freezing, either, said Jessica Hickey, founder of the Downtown Greensburg Project, which also helps to keep pantries stocked. Items usually don’t stay on the shelves for long.
“We go there to stock up usually twice a week,” she said.
“I’ll usually check once or twice a month,” Steele said. “If they need something, I’ll go to Aldi and pick it up.”
What’s needed most are individual servings of prepared foods, like soups, pasta, fruit and vegetable cups, snacks and tuna packets — “anything that’s easy to eat,” Hickey said.
Hickey asks that donors refrain from leaving fresh foods or dried foods like beans, rice and pasta.
“Those things tend to sit, because people don’t have the means to prepare them,” she said.
There’s a list of needed items on the DGP website with a link to order through Amazon for delivery to DGP.
“If you have time, grab a couple of things at the store to drop off,” Hickey said. “Sometimes, people will take their kids along. It’s a good way to teach them a lesson on caring for other people.
“If people don’t want to go out, they can order from the wish list,” Hickey said. “We had about 50 boxes of food delivered last week from the wish list.”
“The pantries are a necessity,” said Tracy Scott, a housing supervisor for Connect Inc., which provides services to homeless, near-homeless, and low-income people in Washington, Greene and Westmoreland counties, including the Welcome Home Center in downtown Greensburg.
“If we have an overflow of donations here, I’ll drop off food and toiletries (at the St. Clair Park pantry),” she said.
“The beauty of (the pantry program) is that it’s a community-driven thing,” Steele said. “It’s not one organization in charge. Anyone can contribute — the community keeps it going.”
“The calls are going up for people asking where to go for help, not just the homeless but people in general,” Scott said. “There’s a lot of people in need, especially in the last year since covid.
“In America, there’s no reason for anyone to be without food.”
Details: downtowngreensburgpa.us
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley at 724-836-5750, smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Lifestyles | Local | Westmoreland
January 21, 2021 at 01:21AM
https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/greensburg-little-food-pantries-get-lots-of-winter-usage/
Greensburg little food pantries get lots of winter usage - TribLIVE
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