The Pitt Police and its Community Programs Unit were honored earlier this month with a Corporate Citizenship Award from the Pittsburgh Business Times.
In presenting the award, the publication cited the unit’s “Most Wanted Food Drive” to collect the surplus of nonperishables from Pitt dormitories at the end of the semester.
In the first year, Mark Villasenor, supervisor of the Community Programs Unit, and the six members of the unit gathered 11 “move-in carts” full of food.
“This year, we collected over 45 carts,” Villasenor told the Business Times. “It keeps getting larger every year.”
The food is used to stock the Pitt Pantry during the summer semester and also helps Community Human Services South Oakland, the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, East End Cooperative Ministry, Garden City United Methodist Church and more.
The Community Programs Unit also partners with other groups, such as Special Olympics of Western Pennsylvania, Adopt-a-Highway, United Way of Allegheny County and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.