Greater Pittsburgh Community Food bank offers more than just food

ALLEGHENY COUNTY — The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is more than just a food distribution center.

Throughout the pandemic, they have been providing more than just food to those in need.

“We know that just because somebody is food insecure (and) needs food assistance, there’s other sectors or other areas out there where they can be benefiting from,” food bank Vice President of Marketing and Communications Brian Gulish said.

Gulish said there are many more areas where people need help, and the food bank has stepped up over the last year to help provide those services.

“We took it upon ourselves to launch the Life Stabilization Department in July 2020 which does exactly what it says, it stabilizes lives by connecting them to other resources,” he said. “We want to find out the root cause of why someone is food insecure, and one of them could be employment. Someone lost their job, whether it was because of the pandemic or otherwise, so will connect them with agencies and assistance setting up interviews.”

The food bank’s dedicated team of call center workers are also helping those in need of other types of assistance, like transportation or health care.

While the life stabilization team call center has grown, emergency walk-in food service and other assistance have also been working overtime, especially since the Federal Pandemic Unemployment benefits ended on Saturday.

“They’re getting nervous ... that the money’s not coming in, and so they won’t have food. So I do expect us to see quite a few more people than normal,” Compassion Corner coordinator Sherri Coccaro said.

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