University Times

Pitt’s 25th 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.

The online shopping link is www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/pitt. Credit cards accepted are Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and Diners Club. Online donor shoppers also receive an email receipt that can be used for tax-deduction purposes.

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.

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

New this year is an email sent to those enrolled with the Faculty and Staff in Service to Communities program, giving them the opportunity to click straight through to the virtual food drive and to forward information to a friend.

“Donating food through the virtual drive is the most beneficial to donors and recipients alike,” said Steve Zupcic, who has coordinated the Pitt Partnership for Food drive for the past 20 years.

“Donors are able to give twice as much food for each dollar; they are spared the task of purchasing the food and schlepping it to work, and they receive an immediate receipt useful in filing for tax deductions. Their hungry neighbors receive the food that is needed most, purchased at deep-discount prices and delivered directly to the Food Bank,” he said.

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 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.

Pitt also is continuing to battle local and regional hunger throughout the year under the auspices of the University Senate’s community relations committee (CRC).

Those efforts include building a stable of volunteers for food repackaging and distribution tasks at the Food Bank’s Duquesne warehouse site; distributing food at pantries and shelters and directly to individuals in Braddock, McKeesport, Homewood and the South Side; helping to harvest food at local farms, and doing clerical work, such as mailings, data entry, research and phone calls, for the Food Bank.

In addition, CRC is continuing its support for “Fourth Thursdays,” a volunteer effort of Pitt employees and students to distribute food at the Food Bank warehouse on the fourth Thursday evening of each month. The end of the month is the Food Bank’s busiest time, because that’s when monthly pay checks often run out. Lenzner, Pitt’s shuttle bus vendor, donates transportation service to the Food Bank and back to campus.

Weekday, evening and weekend hours are available for Food Bank volunteers. For more information on volunteering, contact Zupcic at 412/624-7709 or stz@pitt.edu.

According to Food Bank data, in Allegheny County more than 85,000 individuals are using emergency services through the Food Bank’s network of agencies. Throughout the Food Bank’s service area, more than 120,000 individuals receive supplemental groceries each month, including 37,000 children under the age of 18, 16,000 people over 65, 17,000 laid-off or disabled individuals and 35,000 from households with wage-earners who still aren’t making ends meet.

Overall, the Food Bank distributes more than 1 million pounds of food and other products a month to its 350 partner agencies.

Those who are in need of supplemental food or know someone who is should contact the Food Bank at 412/460-3663 ext. 456.

Collection boxes for Pitt’s annual food drive 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, and Alumni Hall lobby.

Those needing bulk food pickups should contact Zupcic at 4-7709.

—Peter Hart