Life Changing Is ... Helping Communities in Need

Eric R., Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

"The more we can help enable students, staff, and people in the community to have access to what they need to be healthy, the better we all are."

As the superintendent of Karns City School District, Eric has seen the food needs of his community grow over the years.

The school district is in a rural area, with the nearest grocery stores miles away. There also is not a consistent mode of public transportation for people to access. He often would see students come to school hungry.

"I've been pretty much a lifelong resident here, so I know a lot of the people in my area," Eric says. "And it is a proud area as far as people sometimes are reluctant to ask for help. But there are needs in our community."

Over the years, school officials made efforts to help people in the community. The school has provided free breakfast for students for many years, as well as a backpack food program.

So, when Eric learned of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank's summer food distribution program, he knew he wanted the district to participate. Summer can be an especially difficult time for hunger because students don't have access to school food programs.

Through the program, the food bank held three food distribution events at Karns City High School in the summer of 2023. People from the community could come to the events and get free groceries.

"I was very pleased that we were one of the schools selected, and it definitely was a wonderful experience, very organized," Eric says. "You definitely could tell they've done this before, and it was extremely easy to partner with them."

All three distribution events were well-attended, with over 200 people coming. Eric says he got positive feedback from the community about the program.

"There were several people that reached out and were just so thankful and appreciative," he says.

"You had to wait sometimes 15, 20 minutes, just simply because of the volume of people, and no one was terribly negative towards that experience. They all took their turn. I think that was evidence of their appreciation for what they were able to benefit from."

Eric says people also appreciated the high quality of the items, which included fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat.

"It was top-notch food," he says.

UPMC is a proud partner of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in its efforts to address hunger in southwestern Pennsylvania. Through donations, volunteerism, and other support, we hope to help communities in need.

Eric says he's thankful for the food bank's support in his district and hopes to work with the food bank again. Increasing the quantity and quality of food that students eat can have major positive impacts on their lives.

“One's individual health is extremely important, and that has many components to it. But food and nutrition is a big part of it," he says.

"The more we can help enable students, staff, and people in the community to have access to what they need to be healthy, the better we all are."

At UPMC, Life Changing Medicine means helping communities get what they need to be healthy.

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