2024 Grant Recipients

For the 2024 grant year, Giving2Grow is honored to provide support to 7 wonderful organizations in the Southwestern Pennsylvania area – one new to us and six returning.  Each serves and nurtures children who face food insecurity.  Explore the websites below to learn more about our 2024 Grant Recipients.

Angels’ Place – Pittsburgh, PA
Since 1984 Angels’ Place has provided early childhood education, childcare/ family support, and education assistance to low-income single-parent families with children aged from birth to 5 years.  These services are provided at two locations, North Side and Swissvale, at no cost to student parents and at reduced rates to working parents.  The program we are asked to fund would provide two homecooked, nutritionally balanced meals and two snacks daily for the children, as well as other essentials such as formula, diapers, clothing and shoes.  Meals are served family-style to the children, parents, and staff, creating a cohesive community.
Families also learn to make good choices in nutrition through a nutrition curriculum, and being involved in the fruit and vegetable gardens maintained at each location by children, volunteers, and staff.   Produce from the gardens is served at the family-style lunches.  In 2023 Angel’s Place supported 32 parents and 49 children; in 2024 they have been serving 61 clients, 27 parents and 34 children.

Fayette County Community Action Agency – Uniontown
Description:  FCCAA is a large agency that manages a variety of services for citizens in Fayette County, a rural community that faces extreme poverty and widespread food insecurity.  Within the county, 16% of residents and 27% of children are food insecure.  According to County Health Ranking Assessments 2022, out of 67 PA counties, Fayette ranked 66^th in health outcomes, 67^th in length of life, 67^th in health behaviors.
FCCAA has developed a variety of initiatives to address access to fresh food and provide education in nutrition and food preparation skills for their clients.  For example, from 2019-2021 G2G was the sole funder of the  Let’s Get Cooking! program which provided in-home instruction, food, and equipment to first-time parents of infants and toddlers.  In 2024 G2G funds will enable a new program, Family Cooking Class, teaching families with children aged 10 – 14 to economically source food and prepare healthy meals,  teach and reinforce good nutrition and healthy eating habits, and strengthen family interaction around good nutrition.  The program would also provide instruction in basic food preparation and cooking equipment that many families lack.

FreeStore 15106   / Carnegie Elementary School PTA – Carnegie
Description:  In November 2021, two teachers at Carnegie Elementary School founded FreeStore 15106 to alleviate hunger experienced by many of their school’s students.  All students in the Carlynton School District, a diverse, multicultural community, are eligible to receive a free breakfast and lunch provided by the school district during the school year. During the summer, the school district provides free lunches three times a week.
To serve students over weekends during the school year, every Friday FreeStore provides a backpack of non-perishable breakfast and lunch foods, a loaf of bread, and a half gallon of milk to any students of the district requiring assistance.  This number has increased from an average of 52 in the 2022-23 school year, to 105 this past 2023-24 year, to 155 bags in recent months.  The store is also open for limited hours during the summer.  As the need in the district grows, the program has added bags for students at Crafton Elementary School. 

Greater Pittsburgh Infant Formula Bank–North Huntingdon
Beverly’s Pittsburgh, formerly Beverly’s Birthdays, provides birthday cheer and critical baby care items for children of families in need, including homeless families.  In 2022, the organization founded The Greater Pittsburgh Infant Formula Bank to address the crisis of formula availability for babies in need after a nationwide product recall.  The need persists in rural communities and lower socioeconomic zip codes, where formula supplies, especially specialty formulas such as hypoallergenic, are inconsistently stocked.  Families whose WIC benefits are delayed, or who are experiencing a financial or personal crisis, can be desperate to find formula for their babies. This is the region’s first and only formula bank network and is designed to be a bridge-based support service.  Formula banks are housed in Allegheny County (5), Westmoreland County (1) and Washington County (1).  In summer 2024 the Babies in the Burgh Mobile Unit was launched to serve areas in food and transportation deserts, and immediately reached many new clients.   The formula is available free of charge and clients are permitted twelve cans per year.  The program also provides client education, breastfeeding support and critical baby care items.

Kidcelerate:  Kids Meal Network – Pittsburgh, PA
Description:  Kidcelerate is a relatively new 501(c)(3) organization that houses several long-established child-focused programs within the United Methodist Church Union.  One of these is Kids Meal Network, which has operated as a flagship program of the UMCU for years.  Each summer, 5 days a week for 9 weeks, KMN provides free, nutritious snacks and meals, supervised activities, and a safe haven to children in underserved Pittsburgh neighborhoods.  In each of the past two summers, KMN has provided approximately 17,000 meals to about 700 unique children, at 19 – 20 different sites.
Feeding site locations include churches, libraries, limited income housing sites, a park–all in vulnerable communities where  unemployment and poverty are widespread, crime and substance abuse are common.  Many children are left alone to fend for themselves during the day and do not get regular meals when school is not in session.  Kids Meal Network turns no child away.  Staff members and volunteers are very sensitive to the diverse needs of the children they serve.
In 2023, KMN received the “Childhood Hunger Hero” award from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Lighthouse Memorial Christian Center (LMCC)  – Pittsburgh
Description:  Lighthouse Memorial Christian Center is a youth and outreach-focused church located in Mt. Oliver, serving surrounding communities including Knoxville, Carrick and Beltzhoover.  This is one of Pittsburgh’s most challenged areas; these predominantly African American communities struggle with widespread homelessness, hunger, gun violence and addiction.  For decades the LMCC organization and its many volunteers have worked to provide food, mentoring/counseling, and a haven for children and young adults of the community.  Although this is a faith-based organization, programs are available to anyone in the community who needs them.
Every weekday during the school year the Lighthouse van picks up 35-40 elementary school-aged children for its free after school program, with planned activities, homework help, and a healthy hot dinner.  The van then takes the children to their homes and ensures that a parent or guardian is home. The summer camp (ages 4-15) provides free activities, educational programming and occasional field trips, plus healthy meals and snacks for up to 90 children.  Many of the participants would not have regular or nutritious meals during the summer without this program. Typically children leave both programs each day with a bag of food for the rest of their family.

North Hills Community Outreach   —  northern Allegheny County  https://www.nhco.org/
Description:  North Hills Community Outreach (NHCO), headquartered in Allison Park, is an interfaith organization addressing the needs of people experiencing crisis, hardship, and poverty in northern Allegheny County.  They provide a broad range of free services, including transportation assistance, utilities and rental assistance, legal consultations, education and employment assistance, and counseling/case management services.
Alleviating hunger is central to their mission.  NHCO offers seven food distributions per month at three different locations—Allison Park, Millvale, and Bellevue.  Participating families can visit twice a month, and find a generous variety of fresh produce, meat or fish, and non-perishable food.  NHCO also operates an organic garden in Bellevue that provides thousands of pounds of produce for their clients.  In addition to the regular distribution times, NHCO can provide emergency food at any time to any family or individual in need, even to those not in their service area.  Families who come to NHCO food pantries for the first time often find that additional  programs are available to help with other hardships they are dealing with.