Volunteers Needed for Farmers to Families Food Box Distributions

Volunteers are needed to help distribute food boxes to Pittsburgh neighbors at sites in Homewood and Oakland on Oct. 21, in the Hill District on Oct. 24 and in Carrick, Hazelwood and Homestead/Munhall on Oct. 29.

Pitt Dining Services and the Office of Community and Government Relations (CGR) are partnering with Compass, Pitt’s dining services provider, and community organizations to distribute 400 meal kits at each site as part of the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box program.

Pitt students, staff and faculty may register for three-hour volunteer shifts at the community distribution sites using the links at the Office of PittServes volunteer opportunities page.

More details on the distribution can be found on CGR’s community engagement page.

As part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, the USDA is purchasing up to $4 billion in fresh produce, dairy and meat products from American producers. The food, which ordinarily would have been sold to restaurants and bulk purchasers, is packaged by distributors into family-sized boxes, then transported to organizations that serve Americans in need. 

More than 100 million food boxes have been delivered through the USDA program since mid-May.