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Doing Good Together!

students from Doing Good Together help at the food pantry

In January, Doing Good Together volunteered at the JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry! Doing Good Together (DG2!) is an interfaith partnership between congregation Rodef Shalom and the East Liberty Presbyterian Church (ELPC). Students from grades 4-12 come together about once a month to conduct social action service projects for the community. In the past, they have worked on projects that provide clothes to those in need, provide job kits for those looking to find work, and provide companionship to elderly neighbors!

Learning at the Food Pantry

Last month, DG2! partnered with us at the food pantry to help the food-insecure population in our community! First, we talked about what it means to be food insecure and what the food pantry does to help. We also talked about the difference between a Food Bank and a Food Pantry. These terms are often mistakenly interchanged, so they learned how to define each one. 

Doing Good Together helps pack birthday bags

  • FOOD BANK is an organization that collects product from the food industry and food drives, inventories and stores it. Then, it distributes the food to agencies–such as food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters–that provide food directly to individuals in need. A food bank has the capacity to distributemillions of pounds of grocery product every year. Food banks make it easy for agencies to obtain nutritious food at low cost in the quantities they need for their clients.
  • FOOD PANTRY is an individual site that distributes bags or boxes of food directly to those in need who reside in a specified area. A food pantry is a member agency of, and obtains food from, a food bank. Both food pantries and food banks share the same commitment: to provide food to those in need.

Birthday Bags

Using Tzedakah money raised by the two groups, they purchased a variety of birthday bag supplies. Together, we helped to pack 40 birthday bags for our clients to enjoy. These bags make it easier for our families to celebrate their special day in style, without having to break the bank! We also had a blast decorating some amazing birthday cards to go in each bag that will be sure to brighten our clients’ birthdays. Thank you to everyone involved with DG2! for your meaningful contribution!

supplies for food pantry birthday bags  supplies for food pantry birthday bags

Find out how you can volunteer at the JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry!