The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has received $252,950 in grants from the Walmart Foundation.
With this grant they’ll buy a large refrigerated truck to distribute food to partner agencies in the surrounding rural counties. At present when they deliver food they use two trucks. Now they’ll use one. They will also use this money for summer food program outreach and school breakfast programs.
Lisa Scales, CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, said providing children with these school breakfasts is a priority.
“What we found that works well is to enable kids to get food in the classroom, to have breakfast in the classroom or to provide grab and go bags. So kids who may be coming in late with only a few minutes until their first class, they can quickly grab a bag that has a nutritious cold breakfast in it,” she said.
In Indiana County they will be reaching out to schools to implement new models of school breakfasts, as well as expanding what is already in place in Allegheny County.
The food bank serves Pittsburgh and 10 surrounding rural counties, providing 22 million meals a year.
According to the last census, food insecure children grew to over 100,000 in southwestern Pennsylvania. Almost 337,000 people in the region are food insecure.
“Many of our neighbors are working, but they are earning a low wage," Scales said. "So they are really struggling to put food on the table every day for themselves and for their families. So while people may not be in need of food every day in terms of food assistance they are in need of some assistance at points throughout the month."
