Food bank receives outpouring of support during pandemic response
As a full-time worker, Mitch Bassi made a promise to himself that after he retired from his job as a global account manager at synthetic rubber company Arlanxeo, he would volunteer for a good cause.
And when the opportunity to retire finally came two years ago, Mr. Bassi, 57, of Gibsonia, decided to volunteer for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, an organization he had always supported financially.
Mr. Bassi is among a growing list of people who have recognized the direct support they could provide while supporting the food bank during the pandemic. The list is so long that when the food bank puts out a call for volunteers it often has so many responders it doesn’t use half of them.
About 1,200 people have signed up for the volunteer list since the pandemic began, according to the food bank’s chief development officer, Charla Irwin-Buncher. More than 600 volunteers have been able to sporadically work in assisting the food bank with drive-ins and home delivery programs.
“I just thought, well, this is
something that I could have a direct impact on people in need, and I can meet new people,” Mr. Bassi said. “I didn’t even know my nextdoor neighbors; I was on the road all the time,” he said.
When the pandemic hit, his devotion to help the community didn’t waver much.
“After a period of being afraid to get out of the house, I decided that, as long as things were as crazy as they were, the best thing I could do was get involved as much as possible,” Mr. Bassi said. “I volunteered to do whatever they asked.”
Mr. Bassi can attest to the increase in support. “I know for a fact that every time the food bank puts out an email to the volunteer base asking for volunteers, if you don’t respond instantly, you get locked out because it gets filled up instantly,” he said.
From a video that went viral of over 1,500 cars lined up at the food bank to other news coverage of distribution days, Ms. Irwin-Buncher said the pandemic has shed light on the relationship between the community and the food bank through direct assistance.
Along with an increase in volunteers, donations are also pouring in for the food bank — a testament to the generosity and the way people feel about their neighbors when times are tough, Ms. Irwin-Buncher said. When the pandemic hit, Ms. Irwin-Buncher said there was an “immediate increase” in individual donors by locals.
“That really enabled us to have the resources to respond quickly,” she said. “Especially in the beginning, there were so many disruptions to the supply chain that we were having to source food in really different ways and oftentimes at higher costs than we were accustomed to.”
Now, Ms. Irwin-Buncher said, they’ve estimated over 10,000 donors have contributed their support since the start of COVID-19 shutdowns, and most are local individuals contributing $25 to $100 at a time.
“Donations of $25 to $100 has a big impact when so many new folks step up to the table to help,” she said.
When asked how much money was raised during the pandemic, Ms. IrwinBuncher said it was tough to find an estimate. “I would say it’s in the millions,” she said.
About $2.5 million was shifted to ensuring the agencies it partners with can receive the bank’s food without any additional cost. The funds also provided flexibility to purchase products for drive-up distributions — an average of $30,000 just to stock up on food for a typical distribution day. And as temperatures rise, there is increased need for heavyduty freezer blankets to cover food pallets. Increases in home deliveries, fuel costs and staffing also have contributed to spending.
“The food bank is just so thoroughly grateful for everything that this community has done so far and continues to do. We’re just the conduit to making this work happen. This really is only possible with the support of the community,” she said.
This outpouring of support isn’t an isolated event; it’s happening nationally. Through the bank’s partnership with Feeding America, she has stayed in contact with other food banks across the country and learned that there’s been an outpouring of support all around.
The fight against hunger, however, isn’t over for the food bank.
“There’s an immediate need, but we know that the economic crisis that was created will linger some time even after the health crisis has subsided,” she said. “There will be lingering folks that will take longer to dig out of what this means for them financially. And for those jobs that are lost and won’t come back, it’s just heartbreaking for what people are going through.”
Many of the food bank’s operations have adjusted through the pandemic, first with the strengthening of the doorstep home delivery model. Communication and public relations specialist
Beth Burrell said the food bank also converted a few of its employees’ duties to a call center to connect people with their food distribution.
For the long term, the food bank hopes to find other distribution models to help reach as many people as it can and also continue to provide resources to its partners who operate food pantries in neighborhoods, schools and churches across the 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania the food bank serves. Ms. Burrell said the food bank is thinking about bringing back the “green grocer model,” which provides a mobile farmers market to areas such as the Hill District.
The organization also plans on strengthening outreach for the Summer Food Service Program, a federal program the food bank sponsors that provides free meals to children under 18 when schools are in summer session. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 168 million free lunches were distributed in Pennsylvania during the 2019 fiscal school year as part of the National School Lunch Program. However, about 4.6 million meals were distributed during the summer for the Summer Food Service Program, showing a significant drop in participation.
“It’s really about access and equitable access,” Ms. Burrell said. “We’re paying close attention to neighborhoods and communities and groups that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID crisis and food insecurity in general.”
Since the pandemic hit, volunteering at the food bank has taken on a new meaning for Mr. Bassi, who helps deliver food from Earthen Vessels Outreach in Bloomfield and the Lighthouse Foundation in Butler.
“I think it’s been different because I see it as a responsibility now and contribute to it as much as I can during however long the duration of the pandemic is,” Mr. Bassi said. “It’s a social obligation.”