The Social Justice and Outreach Committee Calls on Churches and Individuals of our Diocese to:
Support Summer Nutrition for Children in Your Community
At the end of the school year, many children who formerly participated in the National School Lunch Program abruptly lose access to their daily meals.
Millions of school age children suffer a major gap in their meal coverage during the summer, putting them at risk for underdeveloped social skills, weak academic achievement, and long-term health problems.
There are 72,000 children in Allegheny County eligible to get a free or reduced price lunch during the summer because of low family income, but in the past only 10,000 have participated.
Contact the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank at 412 460-3663 or the Food Bank headquarters for your county if you could help provide some regular meals for one of the programs in your community.
Support SNAP
In the twelve counties served by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership, 370,000 residents face hunger. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a nutrition program open to those meeting income and other eligibility criteria and helps numerous families, individuals with disabilities, and seniors.
Yet there are 113,000 eligible individuals in Allegheny County who are not using SNAP, and many are missing meals or eating too little.
If you meet individuals who are eligible or know of organizations that do, please put them in touch with SNAP. For more information contact Megan Davis at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (412 460-3663). See www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/foodpartnership.