Their mission is to feed people in need and mobilize our community to eliminate hunger.
In June 1980, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank opened its doors in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. This came at a time of great change in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The once-thriving steel industry, which had been in a slow, steady decline for nearly 30 years, began to rapidly deteriorate during the early 1980s.
In January 1983, the region’s unemployment rate hit 18.2 percent, leaving 212,000 people unemployed. The food bank was there to not only provide food assistance, but to help people get back on their feet.
Today, GPCFB works with a network of more than 850 partners across the 11 counties we serve. In addition to sourcing, warehousing, and distributing food, the food bank is actively engaged in stabilizing lives and confronting issues of chronic hunger, poor nutrition, and health. And, through their advocacy efforts, they have become a primary driver in comprehensive anti-hunger endeavors regionally, statewide, and at the national level.
In 2021, their network delivered about 12 million pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to our neighbors in need. That’s almost double the amount distributed in 2015, and about six times as much produce as they distributed annually in 2000.
There are over 340,000 food insecure community members in the 11 counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania – over 10% of our community.
GPFB is committed to providing more fresh food options to people who are food insecure, with a goal of closing the meal gap in our region and also helping people to stabilize their lives. Ensuring people have fresh, healthy food to eat allows them to achieve this goal.
The food bank’s focus spans beyond the distribution of food, seeking to address root causes of food insecurity in racial inequality. Their position as a nonprofit leader in the community enables them to take meaningful action.
The Food Bank has many ways for individuals and groups to get involved and contribute financially and through volunteering.
For many years, Westminster has participated in Produce to People directly distributing produce and other food to GPCFB clients on Saturday mornings.
Due to COVID-19, Family Volunteer Day and Produce to People were transformed into the Drive-up Distribution. Produce to People will likely be restarted at some point.
Westminster has also provided regular financial contributions via Outreach Commission allocations. Looking forward, we will seek to explore further opportunities for hands-on mission work with the food bank.
Food is a basic human need, yet every day thousands of our neighbors struggle to have enough food on their plates.
Westminster is working on plans for a Drive-up Distribution opportunity at our church later this year. More details to come.
– Allison McGhee