Pittsburgh businesses and volunteers cooking up meals for Yinzgiving
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburghers always find a way to give back to neighbors in need for the holidays.
Local businesses and volunteers are whipping up a delicious plan for this year's Yinzgiving, and you can help. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without yinzers cooking up something special for families.
"Yinz-give. We love Pittsburgh!" said Clint Kuskie, partner owner of Dive Bar and Grille.
The tradition is now in its fifth year. Kuskie said it's an exciting year as they teamed up with their friend, Rachel Maga and ACORx Pharmacy. They've been whipping up plans and gathering support.
"We're over $10,000 right now in donations. We have over 50 or 60 committed volunteers so far," he said.
They're committed to providing at least 1,600 homemade meals. But if they can get more volunteer drivers and donations, they could prepare, package, serve and deliver a couple thousand more meals.
"We could ramp it up to that 2,000, 2,100. We're trying to see how far we can push it this year. We did 1,350 last year, and I think we're going to blow that out of the water," Kuskie said.
Pittsburgh Barbeque Company is preparing the turkey breasts, and several other businesses are chipping in with other items.
Kuskie said U.S. Foods, the main food provider, is going to reach out to its vendors to see if they can bring down their costs. He also said Mediterra Bakery is helping out tremendously with the bread, Jordan Banana Company is donating all the potatoes and TriMark is providing containers for all the meals.
Employees will volunteer their time and get to work on all the turkey day fixings in the kitchen at Dive Bar and Grille in Ross Township a week before Thanksgiving.
"Somewhere in the neighborhood of 750 pounds of turkey, 750 pounds, 800 pounds of potatoes that we bring into mash. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pumpkin pies. So yeah, it's pretty intense," Kuskie said.
"I can't say enough about our staff and the volunteers that come help us because they put so much time and effort into this, that we have people working overnight leading up to this that don't even blink an eye to dedicate their time to this," he added.
Starting at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving, volunteers will package the meals in an assembly line at the restaurant.
"We have people from all walks of life. We have 80-year-olds coming over to help us. And we have 6- and 7-year-olds, 5-year-olds helping us out. It's really amazing," Kuskie said.
Volunteers will then deliver individual and catered meals to homes, school districts, and other locations. Kuskie added that a Pittsburgh sports star will pitch in.
"That's Andrew McCutchen this year. So, we're super excited to invite Kutch to Yinzgiving this year. I know he's going to be delivering a few turkey dinners to some lucky people," Kuskie said.
Former Steeler JuJu Smith-Schuster originally started the meal distribution effort before it was dubbed Yinzgiving.
The list of ingredients in the Yinzgiving recipe keeps growing each year.
"I think the Yinz in Yinzgiving captures the essence of Pittsburgh and our community, and it really shows with the way that people step up and help out with this," said Kuskie.
Organizers said they don't need any more meal prep and packaging volunteers. You can sign up to volunteer as a delivery driver or make a monetary donation. Any leftover donations will go to a local food bank or charity.
