North Hills Community Outreach to bring food program back to Blawnox

North Hills Community Outreach brings its free food distribution program back to Blawnox starting next month.

NHCO staff and volunteers are expected to set up shop from 2-3 p.m. April 21 outside the borough building,

This will be the third year for the outreach’s On the Go mobile pantry and the second consecutive year in Blawnox.

Other dates on the schedule are May 19, June 16, July 14, Aug. 18, Sept. 15 and Oct. 20.

“I’m excited about the whole program,” said food pantries coordinator Jon Jordan. “It’s going to be great. We’re going to try to do again a big focus on fresh produce and meat selections to bring out to the community.”

New this year is the presence of a services coordinator to discuss utility and rental assistance, financial stability, transportation and senior services.

“It’s going to allow people in the community to understand some additional services and support that we have through our organization to assist them,” Jordan said of the additional coordinator on site.

Also new is voluntary preregistration available online at nhco.org/on-the-go.

It is designed to help volunteers with logistics, determine how much food and items to bring and gives them a better understanding of the volume they can expect at the locations.

Volunteers haul about 600 pounds of food to give away to people regardless of income or residency. They set up shop for about an hour at three different spots all in one day.

People can get fresh produce, frozen seafood, meats, pet food, baby food, diapers and personal hygiene products.

Other locations for NHCO distribution this year on the above dates include the Free Store along Little Deer Creek Valley Road in West Deer and Fremont Square Apartments in Bellevue.

Jordan said his team received a lot of positive feedback from Blawnox and are happy to be serve those residents and others in the Fox Chapel area.

“Everybody was very excited when we showed up,” Jordan said. “We began to have a large core of regulars that would come back each time we visited, which was great. (The borough) is a nice place and within our organization’s service reach. It’s a nice way to get out there in Blawnox and engage the community. We’re also thankful for the borough building lot.”

Borough Manager Kathy Ulanowicz said Jordan’s team and their mobile pantry have been a benefit to the community.

“We are thrilled to hose the community outreach food distribution again this year,” she said via email. “Last year was successful. Talking to some of the people stopping on distribution day, they are thankful and appreciate the program.”

Those who wish to support the food pantry program can donate items to North Hills Community Outreach at its three hubs.

The main office is at 1975 Ferguson Road in Allison Park. Other sites are the Millvale Community Center at 416 Lincoln Ave. in Millvale and Greenstone Methodist Church at 939 California Ave. in Avalon.

More information about the outreach is available at nhco.org or by calling 412-487-6316.