Feb 19, 2024 By Paul Paterra 4 min read

Local school districts and community sponsors are being recognized for their efforts to combat child hunger.

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s Child Hunger Hero Awards are being given to 10 districts and community sponsors throughout Washington, Greene and Fayette counties. They were evaluated on their involvement including school meals, summer food, after-school meals, weekend backpacks and school pantry programs.

“Through the Child Hunger Hero program, we are excited to honor the difficult and courageous work our partners do to serve kids every day,” said Kelsey Gross, food bank director of child nutrition programs. “Their work translates to fewer kids in our region worrying about where their next meal may be coming from.”

Child Hunger Hero Award levels are Gold, Silver and Bronze, and are determined by a points system based on how significantly a partner contributes to a detailed list of child food security program standards.

Area Gold winners are the Trinity Area School District, LeMoyne Community Center in Washington and East End United Community Center in Uniontown.

The Carmichaels and California area school districts were Silver winners.

Bronze winners included Avella, Fort Cherry, Ringgold, Southmoreland and Southeastern Greene school districts.

“It is such a blessing to us because we know the reach is reaching further than just what’s inside the building,” said Trish Robinson, program director at LeMoyne Community Center. “In order to change a culture you have to change a mindset. We’re bringing the kids in and teaching them better eating habits, which may lead to better studying habits, which leads to better attitudes.”

The LeMoyne Community Center has offerings such as the after-school Homework and More program, which runs Monday through Thursday. More than 100 kids in kindergarten through eighth grade are registered.

“Our first priority is to make sure the children not only do their homework but they understand what they’ve done,” Robinson said. Teachers from the Washington School District volunteer their time to work with the children

She added that each child receives a healthy dinner, including protein, vegetables and fruit.

Another program the community center provides is the Nutrifit Mobile Summer Feed Program, which runs Monday through Friday. During eight weeks in 2023, more than 8,500 meals were served.

“After seeing the food security of not only the children that come into our Homework and More program, we noticed that it extends further,” Robinson said. “We not only provide the meals, we prepare the meals and we deliver the meals to different areas in the community.”

Programs offered at the Carmichaels Area School District include a school pantry, two after-school programs in which homework help is offered as well as the chance to do crafts and other activities along with a free dinner, a summer food service program and a weekend backpack program.

“The kids who are at risk who may not have food or a lot of food over the weekend are identified by our school counselor,” said Curt Walker, food service director. “We put together two breakfast items, two lunch items, two snack items, two dinner items – all shelf stable items. It’s in their backpacks anonymously on Friday on the bus so they have food to eat over the weekend.”

Walker added this is the first year that the district qualified for a community eligibility provision, a reimbursement option for schools that meet high poverty guidelines to offer free meals to children.

“In the past, we’ve always missed that line as far as qualifying for it,” Walker said. “This year, we actually qualified for it for the first time. None of the parents have to fill out any applications anymore for their kids. They know their kids can come to school whether they want to pack a lunch or not, they still get to receive a free reimbursed hot meal at the school district. We want to go above and beyond to feed kids in this community not just when they’re in school, but out of school as well.”

In all, 40 school districts and organizations in 11 counties received the award.