St. Pio of Pietrelcina Food Pantry
Hours:
Monday & Tuesday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Location:
The Capuchin Center
204 37th Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Phone :412-682-3877
The Pantry began in the 1980s offering a single bag of groceries to a few families. It grew to 134 households by 1997 and has now blossomed to between 165 and 313 new households a year. You, the parishioners of St. Pio Parish services between 300 and 500 needy people each and every month. I used the word “blossomed,” for it is a blessing that God has granted us both the where-with-all to help people and He continues to match it and us with people who have such unique needs.
There are always exceptions, but the overwhelming vast majority of these folks sincerely appreciate your generosity and consideration. Without it, it might be impossible for many of them to continue to cope and function in their worlds. We now provide four to six bags of groceries, consisting of vegetables, cereals, fruit, spaghetti and sauce, soup, meat, margarine, bread and a dessert, paper products, and soap or some other household item(s), juice, and other canned goods and supplies.
The retail value varies between one hundred and one hundred and seventy dollars an order, depending on the household size and the particular items being provided in any given month. Nevertheless, we provide the food to our recipients for only ten to twelve cents a pound.
The “Envelopes to the Needy” are our Life-Line to survival. Unfortunately, back in 1998, when we were servicing 134 households, we received about $12,000 a year from the envelopes. Today, we only receive about $8,500 a year and we have increased our clientele by over 50%, 134 to 313. The twelve thousand is not the total cost of operation. We receive from ongoing food drives, individual financial donations, bread and baked goods from Giant Eagle Route 8 Bags from Shop & Save and Pennsylvania Macaroni, City and/or County Grants, a truck delivery grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Area Community Food Bank, as well as space and utilities from the Capuchin Friary.
Our Pantry is completely voluntary. It takes about 18-33 volunteers a month, (4 interviewers; 8 volunteers working in the back packing 800 or so bags of food a month, and unloading 9,000 to 12,000 pounds of food and supplies a month; and 6-8 volunteers who pick up bread on Sunday mornings from Giant Eagle), to accomplish this feat of feeding over 500 people each and every month.
The “KEY” to success is cooperation and support. In that respect, we have been eternally blessed. The Panty is truly a gift from God. He has provided as the Lord has promised…. “[…] Worrying will not save a hair on your head […] the Lord will provide […]. When a refrigerator broke…. someone donated one! When our numbers increased and we couldn’t afford the food we needed…. The Holy Sprit sent money! When a freezer was needed…… the late Sister Marie Green, RSM, spirit showed us a new account! When more clients showed up at our doors……. God sent more workers! When we thought it would be nice to help with paper products….. God sent the money and had us hearing… is there something we can do for you!
Thank you for your generousity.