THE GIFT OF GIVING
Volunteers choose packing meals over hunting deals on Black Friday
The scene at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Friday looked a lot like the Black Friday madness at a department store: People were scrambling across the floor with big boxes, and there was a lot of yelling.
Most of it was cheering, though, coming from one of the assembled groups each time a box was filled with 32 bags of fortified macaroni and cheese.
In one of the production lines, the macaroni started in John Tucci’s cup.
Once he scooped the noodles into the bag, they were off. Toss in a little soy, put them on the scale and they were ready to be sealed, labeled and boxed by an assembly line of volunteers — off to the food banks in Pittsburgh to feed the hungry in time for the holidays.
And lucky for the assembly line,
Mr. Tucci is groundsworker at Robert Morris University, so his hands didn’t get tired of scooping.
“Also what helps is that your great faith in God, and the great will of doing this, helps give you that inner strength,” Mr. Tucci said.
It was Black Friday, and as thousands of others were swarming retail stores for the best deals, about 3,000 people were at the convention center for Amen to Action, a massive volunteer event with the goal of packing 1 million meals for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
The effort was organized by a group of Pittsburgh religious leaders and Meals of Hope, a national organization that hosts food packing events.
There were about 200 tables on the floor, and each was its own work station. The idea was for every group to pack 26 boxes — with 32 sealed bags of fortified dry macaroni and cheese ingredients aingredients that can feed a family of six — so that the event could reach the million mark.
They managed to hit 1,014,366 meals, though it took longer than the two hours scheduled.
Lots of people stayed past the 12:30 p.m. end time to finish it off. Meals of Hope said it was the first time it had hit 1 million in a single location.
“This is a day, Black Friday, we can focus on going out and buying a lot of things, but instead of grabbing ahold of stuff, we’re trying to give things away,” said the Rev. Terry O’Connor, who brought 40 people to the event on a bus from his parish, St. Therese of Lisieux in Munhall.
At the opposite end of Mr. Tucci’s table were BJ Osso and his family. Mr. Osso’s daughters, 11-year-old Angelina and 9-year-old Gianna, were sealing the bags of food, while his 6-year-old son, Nico, counted to make sure 32 bags were going in the box. His wife, Charlotte, was the labeler.
For the couple, the opportunity to get their children involved in giving back to the community was special.
“I tell them, ‘ You count your blessings every day, you get up and eat your cereal, you have something to eat,’ “Mr. Osso said. “‘Now we go do something for somebody else.’ I’m really happy they’re here today to witness it.”
Abby Crookshank, an 11th-grader at Peters Township High School, said she chose volunteering over shopping.
“Last night, I had a friend text me at 1 a.m. and she was like, ‘ Wanna come pick me up and go shopping?’” Ms. Crookshank said.
“I said, ‘I can’t, I have to volunteer in the morning. I have to get to sleep so I can get up and get ready to work.’ “
So there she was, putting a cheese packet into a bag — one of a million.