More Pittsburghers Need Food Assistance

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank today announced increased need for food assistance in 2009.

CEO Joyce Rothermel says an average of 2500 previously unassisted households received food assistance each month. That brought the total number of people receiving aid up to more than 106,000 for the year.

Rothermel says thanks to new support from the federal government and local foundations, her organization has been able to address the mounting need.

“We’re reminded of our times in the ‘80s with the mills going down and the loss of manufacturing jobs,” says Rothermel, “but we don’t think we’re suffering as great as in some other parts of the country that were hit harder by the recession with higher rates of unemployment.”

Rothermel says after recently opening a new North Side location, the Duquesne-based agency plans to expand to McKees Rocks and Beaver Falls.

She says her group works with the Department of Labor and Industry to travel to companies where 50 or more workers lose their jobs at a time, to give them information on federal and local food assistance programs.

More information can be found at the Food Bank’s website.