High School Hearts

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

As promised, here’s another example of how individuals and organizations across Pittsburgh are having a heart for hunger.

Meet the team from Quaker Valley High School. As part of a senior elective course on service learning, this group of intrepid volunteers came and lent a helping hand in our Hunger Programs last week.

They sorted food donations, packed bags for the Pantry, prepared meals for our elderly Meals on Wheels clients, and served lunch at the Soup Kitchen. This isn’t the first time that EECM has benefited from the generosity of the Quaker Valley crew. Read about their creative holiday fundraiser.

These students are full of great ideas. Be sure to check out the Summer edition of the EECM newsletter (sign up for the electronic version in the right-hand sidebar) for more stories from Quaker Valley!

Thanks to all the participating students (and their teacher)! You’ve got a huge heart for hunger.

Daisies with a Heart for Hunger

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

So here’s the situation. You want to get involved with EECM’s Have a Heart for Hunger campaign, you really do. But…you’re not sure where to begin. You’re feeling overwhelmed and a bit paralyzed, and at this rate, you’ll sit on your hands until April and miss your opportunity. It’s okay, I sympathize. Really, I do.

But the good news is – it’s really easy to Have a Heart for Hunger. Seriously. And to prove it to you, over the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting some of the wonderful ways that people (just like you!) in our community are making a difference.

Here’s one:

A local Daisy Girl Scout Troup (these are the wee ones – ages 5 and 6) got together and produced hand-made valentines for our Meals on Wheels and Soup Kitchen clients. A little glue, some paper doilies, a few (aka "a million") stickers and presto! A very sweet little something to brighten the day of our clients in EECM’s Hunger Programs.

To further inspire you, I’ve included a few pictures of their creations.

There really is no limit to the ways that you can Have a Heart for Hunger. So go wild!

Love Walk 2008

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

The freezing cold temperatures of early February weren’t enough to deter the hundreds of young people who turned out to tromp through the streets of East Liberty on Sunday February 10th. These dedicated young people were participating in the 18th Annual Love Walk for the Poor.

The Love Walk is an annual event of the Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the Catholic Dioceses of Pittsburgh. Each year, youth groups and young adult programs from Catholic parishes around Pittsburgh join together to celebrate mass and participate in the charity walk. Mass is held at Sacred Heart Parish on Shady Ave. and then the participants hike one mile through the heart of Shadyside to the East End Cooperative Ministry Food Pantry (located in East Liberty Presbyterian Church.)

The really cool thing is, everyone carries boxes and bags of non-perishable food items that are donated to the EECM Food Pantry. By carrying their donations with them from Sacred Heart to EECM, the participants simulate what it would be like to have to carry all of your possessions with you, as our homeless clients do daily.

The 2008 Love Walk for the Poor was the most successful yet -- these dedicated young philanthropists donated more than 1,000 pounds of much-needed food to the Pantry. This event is the annual kick-off to EECM's Have a Heart for Hunger Campaign. What a great start! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Have a Heart for Hunger

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Today is Valentine’s Day, and you know what that means…

Well, yes, it means candle-lit dinners, wide-spread public displays of affection, and outrageously over-priced roses, but what else does it mean?

That’s right – it’s time for East End Cooperative Ministry’s have a heart for hunger campaign!

Hopefully you will recall that every year between February 14th and March 31st, EECM makes a special effort to raise community awareness about, as well as funds to combat, the devastating effects of hunger on our East End community.

This year, the need is greater than ever. With the US economy shaky, fears about food security are on the rise. Most of our clients live paycheck to paycheck, and even slight alterations to their monthly budgets can make the difference between having enough money for groceries and going hungry.

People right here in our neighborhood don’t have enough to eat. That’s the bad news. But you can change this reality. That’s the good news.

Partner with us in our fight against hunger. Check out the EECM website, and keep your eyes on this blog, for more information about how you can have a heart for hunger.

And Happy Valentine’s Day!

A Fresh Start

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

A new home or apartment is always an exciting thing. The empty rooms and bare walls beckon with possibility and there is a deep sense of satisfaction because this is home.

Unfortunately, along with all that enthusiasm, excitement, and chest-swelling, there are a lot of costs that come along with having your own place. The start-up costs can be particularly steep when it comes to cleaning and maintenance supplies. You know, all that pesky gear that is necessary to keeping your new home tidy…

...brooms, mops, dust-pans, glass cleaner, paper-towels, toilet brush, toilet bowl cleaner, tile scrubber, mildew remover, dust rags, dusting spray stuff, sponges, scrubby sponges, dish soap, bleach, cleaning buckets, all-purpose cleaning powders, liquids, and gels…I could keep going but I think you get the point.

Buying even the most basic of all this stuff is expensive and for our formerly-homeless clients who are transitioning to permanent housing, the costs are overwhelming.

Happily, thanks to a grant from the Rita M. McGinley Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, EECM will now be able to provide our PennFree and Bridge Housing clients with Fresh Start Kits as they begin their new lives of independent living.

The Fresh Start Kits will contain basic cleaning tools and supplies that will give our clients a “fresh start” in their new apartments. Each Fresh Start Kit will include a heavy-duty cleaning bucket, a mop, a broom, a high-quality scrub brush, a dust pan, rubber gloves, cleaning rags, and a variety of cleaning products.

These kits aren’t just a gesture of hospitality, done because we’re nice people. They have a very important purpose within our programs. The Fresh Start Kits allow our transitional housing clients to immediately take responsibility for the care and upkeep of their new apartments, which increases their sense of pride in ownership. This pride of ownership is vital to their success in our housing programs.

Thanks to the Rita M. McGinley Fund and The Pittsburgh Foundation for making this possible!

An Outing

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

In 2005, Elizabeth, one of our Meals on Wheels clients, pushed the button at the demolition of an East End housing complex where she had formerly resided. The honor was bestowed upon her for holding the position of oldest out-going resident. Now she prides herself on being the oldest inhabitant of her new apartment building. Elizabeth is sometimes coy about her exact age, but she’s definitely into her 9th decade of life.

A long-time resident of the East End, Elizabeth is a veritable wealth of knowledge about local politics and the ongoing development of this area. She knows the details of the building going in on Penn Avenue and what shops there are at the growing center of East Side. She can tell you how many units are available at the new housing complex on Penn Circle.

But she’s never seen any of those things.

Since moving into her new apartment two years ago, Elizabeth has been homebound. She receives meals from EECM and occasionally entertains a few friends, mostly from the building, but she hasn’t been able to venture out in quite a while. She avidly reads the newspapers and watches television to keep up to date on what’s happening in her neighborhood, but the information comes to her third-hand.

Or it did…until a few weeks ago, that is.

Kim, one of the volunteers who delivers Elizabeth’s meals, struck up a relationship with the elderly woman through their interactions over Meals on Wheels. Kim was impressed by her interest in the development of the area and saddened that Elizabeth hadn’t been able to see the things she was reading about.

So Kim arranged a special treat for her. After her deliveries were complete, Kim and her partner-in-volunteering, Trish, came back and picked up Elizabeth. They drove her around the neighborhood to the new construction sites, and at each, Elizabeth would tell them all about the work that had been done and what was still being planned, eyes gleaming at seeing it in person. They went out to lunch together, did a little shopping, then brought Elizabeth home.

All three women had a wonderful time and are planning on making it a regular event. Kim says “It was sweet – she got all dressed up for the outing and it clearly made her so happy to be out in the neighborhood.”

This extraordinary generosity on the part of our volunteers, going well above and beyond what is asked of them, is just one of the many reasons that we love them so dearly!