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Feb 19, 2024 By Paul Paterra 4 min read

Local school districts and community sponsors are being recognized for their efforts to combat child hunger.

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s Child Hunger Hero Awards are being given to 10 districts and community sponsors throughout Washington, Greene and Fayette counties. They were evaluated on their involvement including school meals, summer food, after-school meals, weekend backpacks and school pantry programs.

“Through the Child Hunger Hero program, we are excited to honor the difficult and courageous work our partners do to serve kids every day,” said Kelsey Gross, food bank director of child nutrition programs. “Their work translates to fewer kids in our region worrying about where their next meal may be coming from.”

Child Hunger Hero Award levels are Gold, Silver and Bronze, and are awarded based on the school or community partner’s level of participation across both federal and private child nutrition programs.

Area Gold winners are the East End United Community Center in Uniontown, Trinity Area School District and LeMoyne Community Center in Washington.

The Carmichaels and California area school districts were Silver winners.

Bronze winners included Avella, Fort Cherry, Ringgold, Southmoreland and Southeastern Greene school districts.

Terry Burden, after-school coordinator for the East End United Community Center, said much is done to offset food insecurity at the center. A highlight is the center’s community garden, from which meals are prepared for the center’s after-school and day care programs.

Many of these meals are featured in Miss Nancy’s Kitchen, named for Nancy Reed, the cook for the after-school program

“We have a community garden so we bring in a lot of the community garden items and she’ll prepare a meal for the after-school and day care,” Burden explained. “We put it on YouTube. It’s widely watched and documents the meals that are prepared with the food from the garden to help the students learn about nutrition. We also discuss nutritional values and they are discussed in the lesson plans.”

Burden said the center has benefited from the Child Adult Food Care Program (CACFP), a federal program that provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children and adults who are enrolled for care at participating child care centers, day care homes and adult day care centers.

“Every year I apply for grants mostly for the kitchen and for the food,” she explained. “This year we got a grant and we were able to replace a lot of items in the kitchen, and we got a brand new stove with double ovens because we do make food for the day care and the after-school program.”

Programs offered at the Carmichaels Area School District include a school pantry, two after-school programs in which homework help is offered as well as the chance to do crafts and other activities along with a free dinner, a summer food service program and a weekend backpack program.

“The kids who are at risk who may not have food or a lot of food over the weekend are identified by our school counselor,” said Curt Walker, food service director. “We put together two breakfast items, two lunch items, two snack items, two dinner items – all shelf stable items. It’s in their backpacks anonymously on Friday on the bus so they have food to eat over the weekend.”

Walker added this is the first year that the district qualified for a community eligibility provision, a reimbursement option for schools that meet high poverty guidelines to offer free meals to children.

“In the past, we’ve always missed that line as far as qualifying for it,” Walker said. “This year, we actually qualified for it for the first time. None of the parents have to fill out any applications anymore for their kids. They know their kids can come to school whether they want to pack a lunch or not, they still get to receive a free reimbursed hot meal at the school district. We want to go above and beyond to feed kids in this community not just when they’re in school, but out of school as well.”

In all, 40 school districts and organizations in 11 counties received the award.