University Times

One child in four in Pittsburgh faces food insecurity. In a campaign to end hunger, Pitt’s 26th annual Partnership for Food drive is collecting non-perishable food items throughout April to help restock the shelves of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

In addition to on-campus collection sites, Pitt again is holding a virtual food drive, where members of the University community can shop online for items that the Food Bank needs most.

Food can be purchased online at about half the retail price from the Food Bank’s suppliers and shipped directly to the Food Bank. Virtual donations result in getting twice as much food for each dollar, enabling the Food Bank to purchase food at greatly discounted prices.

Also, online donors receive an email receipt that can be used for tax-deduction purposes.

The online shopping link is www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/pitt. Credit cards accepted are Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and Diners Club.

Items such as peanut butter, tuna and salmon, meats, baby formula, chunky-type soups and stews especially are needed. Also welcome are dry cereal and household items including paper products, cleaners, soaps and toothpaste. Items that will not be accepted for the food drive include home-canned or home-packaged foods and baby food in glass jars.

For the sixth year, the value of all donations, including those purchased online, will be matched by the Office of the Chancellor.

Donors from the regional campuses may designate a food bank or food assistance organization in their county. This is accomplished via a drop-down menu accessed during check-out on the virtual site.

According to Gwen Watkins, who is coordinating the Partnership for Food, for more than a decade the University has ranked among the five most successful Pittsburgh-area employers in the region’s annual spring food drives. Over the years, contributions from the University have totaled more than 3 million units of food.

According to Food Bank data, in 2009-10 the organization distributed more than 22 million pounds of food to its 382 member agencies and seven affiliated food banks, an average of more than 1.83 million pounds each month.

Throughout the Food Bank’s 11-county service area, more than 120,000 individuals receive supplemental groceries each month, 30 percent of whom are children under the age of 18 and 16 percent are seniors over 65. About 250 new households each month receive supplementary food at the Food Bank.

More information about the Food Bank is available at www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/contact.aspx.

—Peter Hart

Food drive collection boxes are available at the following locations: William Pitt Union, 1st floor information desk

• Circulation desks at all ULS libraries
• Posvar Hall main floor
• Barco Law School lobby and library
• Starzl BST entrance lobby
• Cathedral of Learning ground floor
• Parran Hall 1st floor lobby
• Craig Hall lobby
• Biotech Center lobby
• Information Sciences Building 5th floor lobby
• Scaife Hall 4th floor and 2nd floor elevator lobbies
• Sutherland Hall main lobby
• Litchfield Towers lobby
• Alumni Hall lobby

For bulk food pickups, call 412/624-7702 or email gwatkins@pitt.edu.