Jobi Balog knows that not everyone has been able to put food on their table during the coronavirus pandemic — let alone get an extra $3 an hour in pay as Sheetz workers received.

Because of that, the manager of the Sheetz gas station and convenience store in Harrison decided to challenge her employees to use some of that extra money to buy food for those in need.

And they delivered.

“I think my employees are fantastic,” said Balog, 52, of Tarentum. “I gave (them) from Monday until Friday to bring food in … and they came through for me.

“I think it shows what kind of employees that Sheetz hires. We all are community-minded and have huge hearts.”

The haul, which consisted of non-perishable food items such as crackers, Jello, granola bars, canned fruits and vegetables and bottled water, was donated to the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches’ food bank, also in Harrison.

In a video posted on Facebook on Friday, Balog challenged other Sheetz employees to collect donations for their local food banks. The video had 17,000 views and had been shared more than 600 times as of Wednesday afternoon.

“I just kept thinking, ‘Well, if our community is suffering, I betcha a lot of other communities are suffering,’” Balog said. “We’ve got close to 600 stores out there. Let’s see how far I can get this to go.”

Balog came up with the idea for the challenge after a customer who works for the Salvation Army told her some people were having a hard time getting food.

“That just happened to be payday, and the wheels started turning,” Balog said.

Employees who don’t drive gave other employees money to buy donations. Customers also jumped on board by donating money and food items, Balog said.

“It’s just amazing how this has taken off,” Balog said. “I didn’t expect it to do what it’s doing.”

Sheetz spokesman Nick Ruffner said at least one other store in West Virginia has accepted the challenge, which the Harrison store came up with on its own.

“For them to go the extra mile is really amazing,” Ruffner said.

The challenge was meant to be a one-time thing, but employees are still bringing in donations, Balog said.

The extra donations will be given to the food bank on Wednesday, which is when it picks up leftover, ready-to-eat food items as part of Sheetz’s Made-to-Share program.

Karen Snair, executive director of the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches, said the food bank gets Made-to-Share items on a weekly basis, but the donation challenge really took her by surprise.

“This is different,” Snair said. “This isn’t leftovers from the store. These were the folks that work there every day that were giving up an incentive that they were given to help somebody else.

“I just thought that was amazing.”

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