A family packs food into boxes at the Amen to Action event on Black Friday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Instead of spending the day shopping on Black Friday, more than 4,000 volunteers packed meals for the third annual Amen to Action event at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Amen to Action packed 1,029,456 meals partnering with Meals of Hope and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which covers Cranberry Township.

Volunteers began to arrive just before 9 a.m. and broke up into teams that were guided through a food packing process, developed by Meals of Hope.

The meals will be distributed to more than 400 food pantries and school programs.

Amen to Action was founded in 2017 by Reid Carpenter in partnership with Steve Popper, CEO and President of Meals of Hope. “Over the past three years, as Amen to Action has grown, our hope is that we’ve created a groundswell of interest in volunteerism and giving back to our communities throughout the year,” Carpenter said. “There truly is no better experience than a day like today.”