For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
WAYNESBURG - There is a new food distribution program in Greene County that fills one of the exhibit halls at the county fairgrounds every fourth Saturday morning.
The interior of the big building echoed with early morning bustle on May 24, as volunteers grabbed coffee and donuts on the fly and readied themselves for the give-out. Little dollies waited under tables, ready to be loaded with groceries and taken to cars of those who might need help.
Stacks of food items filled the tables - organic broth, fruit juice, yogurt snack drinks, flavored water, gravy, bullion cubes, gallon cans of spaghetti sauce, fresh potatoes and frozen hash browns, cartons of milk and bags of bread and licorice candy.
"We have 28,000 pounds of food today," Corner Cupboard Food Bank director Jan Caldwell said. "We added some items, too, so it is a good selection."
Outside the line of expectant shoppers stretched past the trucks for hundreds of feet, volunteers moved in their midst getting names and addresses and asking for a verbal proof of income. For those who chose to wait, it would be a free shopping spree for the dozen or so items supplied by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and the Corner Cupboard Food Bank of Greene County.
"We don't ask for written proof of income like we do at the food pantries," volunteer Cherry Ellsworth said. "This is a separate program and it's called Produce to People. As we get more into summer, I imagine there will be more produce, but there will always be enough items to make it worth coming for. We just got started in April and we're hoping to eventually have four give-out sites around the county. Right now we're only here at the fairgrounds. You can pick up here and pick up at your food pantry, too, so it's like an extra shopping trip every month."
High gas prices prompted many who came to carpool or volunteer to pick up food for neighbors and family members while they were there.
Although the doors don't open to the public until 10 a.m. Donna Fordyce was first in line at 7:30 a.m.
"I live on Route 19 going towards Ruff Creek and I came with my neighbor. She dropped me off, went to pay bills, then came back later," Fordyce said as she moved inside with her box to be the first to sign the registration list and take her number.
"We don't have that far to go, but my sister and I came together. It's better that way because we can help each other," second-in-line Gloria Miller of West Waynesburg said, leaning against her cane as she sat on a bench waiting to sign in. "I think it's great they do something like this. There are people here to help you to your car and assist you and all we have to do is wait in line. The volunteers here need a big thanks from all of us."
Shoppers signed in, got a number and began moving down two separate lines, filling their baskets, boxes and bags.
"My mom got me into this," volunteer Tina McKayhan of Waynesburg said, flashing a smile as she helped add bottles of yogurt snack drinks into a waiting basket. "I help at the food pantry. Now I'm helping here, too."
"We need all the volunteer help we can get," program coordinator Sister Audrey Quinn said.
"I'm in charge of rounding them up and now that it's summer, I'm hoping that scouts, home schoolers, youth groups and 4-H'ers will contact me. This is a wonderful service learning project."
By noon, the unofficial tally was in: 300 families had been served.
"We're here until noon, then the drivers start packing up, so don't be late or you'll miss out," Ellsworth said. "We don't supply boxes or bags, so you'll have to bring your own. Plastic laundry baskets are the best because plastic bags can rip and a lot of times they do. Some people bring collapsible totes that have wheels, which really makes it easier to get to your car and into the house."
For more information about Produce to People, or the county food pantries, call at 724-627-9784. To volunteer, call Sister Audrey at 724-852-4323.