Coronavirus In Pittsburgh: More Than 800 Cars Served At Food Bank Distribution At Pittsburgh International Airport
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank hosted a massive food distribution event today at Pittsburgh International Airport for people in need during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Organizers served 812 vehicles in two hours, with each car receiving two 25-pound boxes of food.
Approximately 40,600 pounds of food was distributed on Wednesday.
Cars and trucks began lining up at 10 a.m. for the distribution from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Three tractor-trailers delivered the food to the airport earlier Wednesday morning.
Each received two boxes filled with food - one with frozen meat, the other with dry products. It's about 50 pounds of food in all.
NOW: Boxes of food are being unloaded in a parking lot at @PITairport for today's @PghFoodBank emergency distribution. The event goes from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. One share (about 50lbs. of food) will be placed into each car. Organizers are prepared to serve 1500 people. #KDKA pic.twitter.com/YGtQpsgAVQ
— Lisa Washington (@LisaWashing) April 22, 2020
A food bank spokesperson says it's enough to last a family of four for a week.
Planning for this distribution at Pittsburgh International Airport took one week, after the airport reached to the Food Bank. It's expected to be one of the smoothest distributions so far.
We're at @PITairport ready to provide 1,500 cars with food. Please come out if you need help. pic.twitter.com/05EaeGCkPR
— PghFoodBank (@PghFoodBank) April 22, 2020
Volunteers representing @PghFoodBank and our airport team are on-site and ready to distribute thousands of boxes of food to our community today. The distribution begins at 1 p.m. More information here: https://t.co/x0ykC2bRgm pic.twitter.com/kBXcO3hMSp
— Pittsburgh International Airport (@PITairport) April 22, 2020
Charlese McKinney, network development manager with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, says they anticipate that at least 1,500 cars will show up, simply because of where this distribution is being held.
As Pittsburgh International is close to Beaver County, McKinney expects that people in need of food in both Allegheny and Beaver counties will come.
If you are in need of food, but do not have a car for one of these distribution events, the Food Bank says they are adding other opportunities. Those events can be found at pittsburghfoodbank.org/gethelp.