Feeding the hungry
The holidays may be over, but, for some, hunger remains.
That's the reason Rachel Blose, 13, a Girl Scout with Troop 26214, restarted the Blessing Bags food collection drive at her church, Zion United Methodist, 438 Bear Creek Road, Sarver.
The Zion congregation first launched the collection effort in November to aid the Cabot Food Bank, according to Patty Burdett of the church's mission encounter team. She added that since donations typically decline after the holidays, the church, with Rachel's help, is doing it again in February.
Rachel said donors can pick up a bag and fill it with nonperishable food items from a list in the church bulletin or on the church's Facebook and Instagram pages.
Bags, which contain $30 worth of food, will be returned to the church by March 7 for delivery to the food bank. Donors also have the option of making a $30 donation, and Rachel and her helpers will make the purchases and fill a bag on the donors' behalf.
“Because of the pandemic, people may find it hard to get out and go shopping,” Rachel said. “We could go shopping and do the bag for them.”
Using large, reusable shopping bags makes it easier to move the food to the food bank and easier to hand the food out.
Rachel is also putting together a cookbook based on the items in the Blessing Bags.
“You can make 15 meals for a family of four: There is a lot of food in these bags,” she said.“There's Texas hash and chicken and noodles,” Rachel said. “These are good meals that will fill you up.”The cookbook, when finished, will go into the bags along with the food.Rachel's goal is to fill 100 bags, and by mid-February was nearly halfway there.Rachel said she became involved with the Blessing Bags project while working on her Silver Award project.“We were told to find something upsetting in the community,” she said. “The main thing people needed was food. It was in the news that food banks were running out of food, so why not do something to help?”The Southwest Butler Food Cupboard, 557 Perry Highway, Harmony, could certainly use some help.“We have almost doubled our clients,” said the food bank's Erin Makowski.“We are up to 144 clients. In July, we had clients in the upper 70s or lower 80s,” she said. “The numbers have gone up and stayed up.”Makowski blames the pandemic's disruptions to the economy for some of the increase.“I can tell the biggest age range; it will surprise you,” she said. “It's those in their middle 30s and late 40s. A lot of those are hourly workers.“Restaurants are closed and not at full capacity. People are laid off, and there are very few hours in the food industry,” she said.Makowski said the food bank is run completely on donations and discounted purchases from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.While Makowski said her food bank is accepting any form of donation — monetary or food — it is limiting the number of food bank volunteers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.“We are very thankful for the community,” Makowski said. “The donations have been coming in this whole time during COVID-19. It's been a huge blessing.”The Petroleum Valley Food Cupboard offers food from 9 a.m. to noon on the third Friday of the month at the former Methodist Church in Fairview, at 120 Chestnut St.“The demand is greater than last year,” said the Rev. John Pistorius, the food bank's coordinator.He said the food bank has about 70 clients, which can be individuals or families in Parker, Fairview, Donegal and Allegheny townships in northeastern Butler County.The food, provided by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and donations, can feed a family for a week, he said.People can sign up by calling or texting 724-679-6062.“We will return calls periodically,” Pistorius said.e a meal from 5 to 6 p.m. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, most meals are grab and go.
Lou Birckbichler, director of the St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank at 146 N. Monroe St., said his food bank distributes food to clients once a month.“They sign up and pick up food every month,” Birckbichler said. “We don't have an income requirement. If they come in after it, we figure they need it.”Birckbichler said the food bank gets food at a discount from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and donations from local businesses and individuals.The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank also has direct food distributions. The latest one was Feb. 23 at the Lernerville Speedway, 313 N. Pike Road, Sarver.Melissa Murray, communications/public relations specialist with the Pittsburgh food bank, said the event drew 407 cars and distributed 31,000 pounds of food in the form of nonperishable items and fresh and frozen produce.“We have definitely seen a lot more people,” said Murray. “It slowed down in the late summer, early fall, but were up again in the early winter.”Fortunately, she added, donations to the food bank have kept pace with the increased food demand.“We're very fortunate in the support we've gotten from the community,” Murray said of both food and monetary donations.Another food distribution at the Lernerville Speedway has been set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 23.To make a reservation, go to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank website or call 412-460-3663, Ext. 655.Community meals remain active in the county.Salvation Army Butler Corps' Captain Darlene Means said the organization, located at 313 Cunningham St., still has its feeding program running from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.She said the Salvation Army is feeding 30 people a day. A hot meal, depending on what is donated or purchased, could be spaghetti and meatballs, coleslaw, breadsticks, chips and cookies. A cook comes in five days a week to prepare the meals.Means said the feeding program has been in operation since at least 1998.The Salvation Army also has a food pantry that distributes food boxes from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursdays.“We're also helping with utility assistance and rental assistance,” Means said. “We've had to be more flexible because of COVID-19.”Monica Perry, the kitchen coordinator for First United Methodist Church's community meal, has also noted change brought by the pandemic.Perry said seven Butler churches each take a day to serv
