For a meaningful hands-on activity in Advent, join volunteers from churches throughout the Diocese for a workday at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. We will work in the Repack Center at GPCFB's main Duquesne warehouse facility (1 North Linden St, Duquesne, PA 15110) from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday, December 11. We’ll assist the GPCFB repack team by inspecting, sorting, and repacking donated or purchased groceries. The exact project will depend on their inventory at the time.
GPCFB serves as a central repository for more than 380 local food pantries and distribution centers across 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Somerset and Washington. Because it works with such large volumes in its certified green facility, GPCFB's operations are efficient, economical and impressive. More information can be obtained from their website, www.pittsburghfoodbank.org.
To volunteer for this rewarding Advent activity contact Jerry Stephenson (412 367-1032 or jjmestephenson@verizon.net) before December 1. We’ll need the names, addresses, phone numbers and church for the roster sheet. Volunteers must be 12 years of age or older, be able to stand for 2 or more consecutive hours, and be able to lift 30-40 lbs. We expect the 40 available slots to be reserved quickly and prefer to limit the number of volunteers from any one church to 10 for now. Later on we can open up registration to larger groups from a single church if space is still available.
An announcement about the workday has been appearing in the Diocesan newsletter, Grace Happens, but please make sure members of your parish know about this special Advent opportunity. As with our Habitat project, it is an opportunity to work with others in fulfilling a need.
–Jerry Stephenson and Nancy Lapp, Chair, SJO