Blog
ASCI Partners with Eat’n Park and the United Way to Deliver Free Meals to Families
Since the onset of COVID-19, ASCI has delivered free meals to community members in need. This first began with our kinship families but has since expanded to the entire Penn Hills community—the largest municipality in Allegheny County—in partnership with Eat ‘N Park Hospitality Group and the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania. As a community lacking adequate access to fresh produce and food and minimal access to transportation, this initiative has been essential to children, families and seniors, given the varying impacts of COVID-19.
Dr. David Brock, managing director of ASCI’s Family and Community Engagement department, explains, “Hunger knows no barriers, no race, no gender. It doesn’t care whether you’re a child or adult. There’s no discrimination whatsoever.”
The initiative began after ASCI assessed the great need for food delivery during the pandemic in Penn Hills and formed a distribution team within the Family Service Transportation department to deliver the meals. Two ASCI staff members made masks for the team in order to maintain safety during grab-and-go delivery visits.
On April 15, the first day of delivery, the team delivered 1,000 meals to families. To date, ASCI staff have delivered more than 105,450 meals throughout the community, made possible through partnerships with some of the following Penn Hills senior facilities and churches acting as weekly food and “grab-n-go” sites for families:
- Douglas Plaza Senior Apartments
- Duff Manor Senior Building
- Penn Arbors Apartments
- Penn Hills Senior Center
- A.J. Demor Towers
- Rosedale Food Pantry
- Lincoln Park Community Center
- Hulton Arbors
- The Fold Assemblies of God Church
- Hebron United Presbyterian Church
- Leechburg Garden Apartments
- Penn Hills Association of Christian Clergy
Site managers at these locations continue to share their gratitude for the initiative, as they see firsthand how residents are impacted.
“Over and over again, people thanked me on the phone for helping families who are so in need,” says Dr. Brock.
While ASCI did not foresee this service lasting into the fall, the pandemic has shed new light on the food insecurity this community faces daily. As such, ASCI is currently contracted to deliver free meals with the United Way of Southwestern PA until December. We want to thank everyone involved for making this program such a success!