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A volunteer’s story and a chance to double your gift to the Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry!

| JFCS Volunteers
There are two good reasons to donate now to the Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry’s annual campaign:
  1. During Passover it is an age-old Jewish tradition to contribute generously towards funds that ensure that everyone who is in need has the necessary provisions for the holiday–especially food.
  2. We are thrilled to tell you that a very generous anonymous donor offered the Pantry a $20,000 matching gift! So that means every gift made before May 15th will be matched dollar for dollar up to $20,000!
Now is the time to maximize your support of the Pantry! Please consider making a gift online here (Select: 2016 Food Pantry Match Grant Challenge as your designation when you donate online).

Many of you are already donors and supporters of the Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry, and we are grateful for your continued support. Some of you also volunteer at the Pantry. Supporting Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry has an impact on our clients, but also our volunteers as well.

Here is David’s story.

David Brinn has been volunteering at the Pantry since his retirement five years ago. He says his job kept him travelling a lot of the time, so when he retired he wanted to do something for the local community.
“The Pantry is a special place where our clients, many of whom live very hard and unpredictable lives, get to experience safety, control, care, and community,” he says. “The ‘client choice’ model–the way the Pantry is set up like a small grocery store–creates such a welcoming environment.”

David looks forward to his days at the Pantry every week. He says he has been moved many times by a new client who bursts into tears of gratitude after shopping at the Pantry for the first time. Or when somebody gets to try a new food that they have never before been able to afford.

The extra $20,000 we can raise through this generous matching gift is critical to our ability to continue our work. Almost 3,000 people came to us for food assistance last year, and 2016 is shaping up to exceed that number. We want Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry to remain a dependable resource in our community. Please make a gift online now to help your neighbors (Select: 2016 Food Pantry Match Grant Challenge as your designation when you donate online).

David is just one of many wonderful volunteers at Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry who have real compassion for people who are experiencing setbacks or hard times or poverty. The Food Pantry always needs volunteers–if you can help, contact the Pantry at 412-421-2708.

Photo: David Brinn stocks shelves at the Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry.