AHN Canonsburg Hospital caregivers donate Thanksgiving groceries to Fort Cherry families
Marie Donkers, left, and Beckie Lemley, of AHN Canonsburg Hospital, load tote bags filled with food that the hospital donated to Fort Cherry School District families in need for Thanksgiving.
Tony Liebert, left, of Fort Cherry School District, and Keith Zimmer of AHN Canonsburg Hospital load tote bags filled with Thanksgiving food that will be distributed to families in need in the school district.
Brianne Eiler, left, of Fort Cherry School District, and Beckie Lemley, AHN Canonsburg Hospital manager of therapy services, carry tote bags filled with food donated by hospital employees as part of a food drive initiative.
Brianne Eiler, director of Fort Cherry School District's Helping Hands program, organizes tote bags filled with food as Keith Zimmer, left, of AHN Canonsburg Hospital, and Tony Liebert, of Fort Cherry School District, load the items, donated by the hospital's caregivers.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
From left are Lisa Brinker, Keith Zimmer, Tony Liebart, Brianne Eiler, Beckie Lemley and Marie Donkers. Brinker, Zimmer, Lemley and Donkers are AHN Canonsburg Hospital employees who participated in a food drive to provide Thanksgiving dinners for families in need in the Fort Cherry School District, where Eiler and Liebert work.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
AHN Canonsburg Hospital held a food drive to benefit Fort Cherry School District’s Helping Hands program. Hospital caregivers want to “pay it forward” for the community support they have received during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Caregivers of Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Canonsburg hospital are “paying it forward” this Thanksgiving, and on Monday they donated Thanksgiving groceries to Fort Cherry School District families in need as part of a hospital-wide food drive.
Representatives of Fort Cherry visited the hospital on Monday to collect tote bags filled with Thanksgiving staples – including mashed potatoes, stuffing and pie fillings – that will be given to families who participate in the district’s Helping Hands program.
Helping Hands is a school-based food distribution program that provides monthly boxes of food to food-insecure families of children who live in the district.
Between 50 and 60 families will receive the food-filled tote bags this week.
Over the past few weeks, AHN Canonsburg caregivers and clinicians – overwhelmed and moved by the support they have received from the community during the COVID-19 pandemic – have donated food items and money to support the program.
“It’s a way for us to give back,” said Beckie Lemley, manager of Therapy Services at AHN Canonsburg, who has led the initiative in an effort to return the favor to the community that has rallied around its caregivers as they respond to the pandemic. “So many organizations and businesses and people have given to us, from lunches to food, and yet we’re still working and we’re doing OK. “We know there are a lot of people who aren’t, so we wanted to find a way for us to give back”
AHN Canonsburg also held a similar food drive in the spring, and donated to Chartiers-Houston School District.
Keith Zimmer, AHN Canonsburg volunteer organizer and co-leader of the food drive initiative, said the hospital plans to donate to all of its neighboring school districts eventually.
Fort Cherry Student Services Coordinator Brianne Eiler, who coordinates Helping Hands, said approximately 44% of the school district’s student population lives with food insecurity, and Helping Hands helps “fill the gaps at home providing food to our families who need some additional support.”
Eiler said Helping Hands will provide a Thanksgiving turkey to families to accompany the fixings.
“We’re very excited that the hospital thought of us,” said Eiler. “If it wasn’t for the support of Canonsburg Hospital and other community members and organizations, we wouldn’t be able to pull this off, so we’re grateful.”