Lisa Scales: President and CEO of The Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank Discusses the Value Services for the Under Privileged in the Area

At Highmark Health, we believe what makes us unique makes us better. Our differences broaden our perspectives and foster a variety of skills to complement each other, creating a stronger and more vibrant workforce. It's this belief that earned us recognition as the Best Place to Work for the 10th year for individuals with disabilities in a survey by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN. We'll continue to celebrate and benefit from the inclusion of all people. To find out more, visit highmarkhealth.org. Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone, I'm Joyce Bender. Welcome to Disability Matters. With Joyce Bender on Voice America. I am like in that holiday spirit. I am, I am Mrs. Fezziwig from A Christmas Carol. I mean, I love the holidays, I do. And I think one of my gifts is having great listeners like you. I do, I really mean that. I mean that you have been listening for 22 years. 22 years. This is the year I have my 1,000th episode. And I just wanna thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. And also, I want to send out all my gratitude to the wonderful people around the world that listen to this show. 73 countries with listeners, you know, from Australia to Russia. And you know, I say at every show, if you're even one person in Saudi Arabia, if you're that one person, you can make a difference. Tell people, tell them about this show, because Folks, we're in it together here. This is a time we all have to help one another. And you know, I live with epilepsy and I'm hard of hearing, but I always say an epileptic seizure here from epilepsy is like a seizure in Africa. A seizure is a seizure. That's why you're my brothers and sisters around the world, no matter where you are located. Also, Yoshiko Dart, my great friend Yoshiko, a special shout out to you, Yoshiko, and Highmark, the sponsor of this show for years now. I just can't thank that company enough. And I've got to tell you, over this month, we have had A lot of violence and sadness. And that is what I mean when I say we all have to stick together. We have to be together. Kindness. What is that? Mr. Rogers said there are 3 ways to get to success. One is kindness. Two is kindness. Three is kindness. We all need kindness. And I am proud he was from this great city I'm in right now, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And oh, do we have the ethnic holidays going on in this city. But this city, even when I was talking about Charles Dickens, there are always those people that see the least of these, you know, people that reach out to those that do not. I always call them the people after the three ghosts. This is what Lisa Scales is. She is the person— well, she didn't have to see the three ghosts. She's like people after they've seen the three ghosts because she is a giving person. She is out there putting herself on the line, making a difference in the lives of so many people. The president and CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Lisa, welcome to the show.

Oh, thank you so much, Joyce. Happy to be on the show with you.

Yeah, well, it's a pleasure to have you on, um, and I think if you could just start by telling our listeners about your role and about the Greater Community Food Bank, size of your staff, location. Tell us about it.

Yeah, so it's such an honor for me to be the President and CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, and I just started my 30th year at the food bank. This is my 5th position. I started as a— in program department, working on some urban agriculture programs. But I've really been— it's really been a wonderful journey with the food bank. And we're currently located in the city of Duquesne. For those of you in the Pittsburgh area, you may know the Kennywood Amusement Park. We're about a mile from Kennywood Amusement Park. So we're here in the Mon— what's known as the Mon Valley. And we've been located here since December of 1999. We currently have a staff of 160 people who are 160 food bankers, and we serve 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Wow, 11 counties. That is something. Well, you know, what a place to be, Mon Valley, because they certainly have gone through their own stresses economically in that area. And I can't believe it's going to be your 30th because this is the 30th anniversary of Bender Consulting Services. So, as you can see, time-wise, we're on that same journey together, Lisa. And I wanted to talk though, before we talk about more about the Food Bank. What got you into this world? I mean, there are people that see issues and do some volunteer work, but then there are people like you that just give their life to this. Why? Why? What made you do that?

Well, I think so much was my upbringing, my parents being great role models. I always felt, but for the grace of God go I. So I could be that person in line at a food pantry if, if life happenstance had been different for me. But I was a lawyer practicing law, was enjoying my life, but really felt as though I needed to do something more meaningful. So I made a significant change and I first— my first nonprofit venture, which was at minimum wage, was working on a childhood hunger study., and I found that to be very fulfilling, but I was still trying to find what would really propel me into my, my next venture in terms of work and meaningful work in particular. And it was really serendipity. I met the person who was the fundraiser at the food bank at a mutual friend's going away party, and she spoke so passionately about the food bank, which wasn't on my radar at all, frankly. And it really stuck with me. And several years later, when there was an opening at the food bank to serve as our urban agriculture supervisor, I was— I interviewed and was offered that position. And it's really— it's been, again, an incredible journey. It's such an honor to lead this organization. We have terrifically talented Employees, we have an amazing network of about 1,000 partners throughout southwestern Pennsylvania, and then a supportive board of directors. And I can't say enough about Pittsburghers helping Pittsburghers, and the support from the community has just been incredible over the years.

Yeah, anyone that comes to Pittsburgh and they're here maybe a couple years, they always, you'll hear them say, Wow. People in this city really come together. I mean, they do. They really come together and they really help one another. I was thinking about this with all of this violence and antisemitism going on. I was thinking about when we had that terrible massacre right here in Pittsburgh at the synagogue. What do you see after that? You see people from the Muslims, people that are from the Islamic Church out there helping, helping to, helping to rebuild, helping people. And that is really what Pittsburgh is like. Everyone will come together, people, and, and people are very giving, very giving in this city. I mean, uh, it's— I, I love it. I love this city, but I know you know what I mean. Here's a funny story. I was in the elevator one day and this gentleman, business executive, was in there and I said, "Hi, how are you?" And he turned around, looked at me, and he said, "You know, I'm from Philadelphia and like we don't talk in the elevator." I said, "Oh, well, let me just tell you, if you went to like a—" Sheets or a Wawa, and you would see me in there talking, or Giant Eagle, the grocery store. You would think I was best friends with the cashier. I mean, you would think everyone is because you're in there talking about the Steelers or talking about— and someone will say, oh, do you know them? No. That's just how Pittsburghers are. You know, we are very friendly people and I know that you know that with what you do, Lisa, with the job that you have. But I want to go back for a moment to— you want— you were— you wanted to be an attorney, or you were an attorney? I was an attorney.

I was practicing law. Yeah. And, uh, but decided I wanted to do something that really fueled my heart, filled my life in a more meaningful way. I love the law, and I loved what I was doing, but I wanted something more meaningful.

Now, I mean, did something happen to make you realize that, or did you, you know, was there a thing that caused you to make that decision?

There really wasn't, Joyce. It was just a kind of, it was a growing awareness inside of me that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to give back to the community in a different way. I was focused on personal injury work and it was, it just, it wasn't filling me. It wasn't, I wasn't, I loved it, but I wasn't passionate about it. Passionate about our mission here at the food bank, it's just different.

Well, we're glad you made that decision. Before we go any further, someone listening to the show over this wonderful holiday season. It's a time to give back. So if someone is listening right now, they wanna make a donation, Lisa, how do they do that?

They should go to our website, which is pittsburghfoodbank.org, pittsburghfoodbank.org. And there's a donation button when the website opens up and you'll be able to make a financial donation. You could also sign up to volunteer. We're always looking for volunteers as well. If you're in the Pittsburgh area.

When people volunteer, like, what do they do? What, what, what would be some of the opportunities in case someone is listening in the Pittsburgh area? What do you look for?

If you're in southwestern Pennsylvania and you would like to engage with us through volunteering, we host individuals and groups in, at our warehouse facility here in Duquesne to repackage food. We also have a food pantry on site called The Market, and we need volunteers every day. We have a morning and an afternoon shift Monday through Friday. We have a morning shift on Saturdays. And then in the community, we have over 25 monthly produce distributions that we need 40 to 50 volunteers to help out. And then we have some special events this time of year at the Holiday Market. Where we are seeking volunteers at Santa's house because with the donation to the food bank, you get a photo with Santa. So there's special volunteer opportunities as well. Yeah, that is awesome.

Well, now I'm going to tell my— knowing my staff, but the Bender Leadership Academy is a not-for-profit that I started in 2018 teaching high school students with disabilities about the world of work and how to fight bullying. And I always tell these seniors, seniors, nothing creates character as much, good character, as volunteerism, giving back. You know, this company, volunteerism is not an option. It's just how we believe. And boy, that's, I'm sure this time of the year, you do need a lot of people.

Coming in, helping you out. We do, and we actually do get a good number of people November, December. We're top of mind for, for people during the holiday season. Where we have a challenge to recruit enough volunteers, frankly, is in January, February. So again, if you're here, you can go on our website and sign up to volunteer. We will certainly follow up with you, but we're always looking for volunteers. We need volunteers year-round, but Typically, January, February is a time when we need additional volunteers because sometimes folks don't come out during the winter months.

Well, I was just going to say though, oh, that's why you need help because you're low on the volunteers. Is that what you mean?

Yes. Yeah. So sometimes we have some folks who volunteer with us every week. Some folks do it monthly. We have groups who come in and they'll volunteer once a year. They may send different departments to volunteer each month. We have a number of local corporations that handle it that way. So there are a lot of different ways to engage with us, whether it's on a regular basis, weekly or monthly, or even on an annual basis.

Yeah, I was at Highmark and I saw the display at Highmark of the dog. First, when I walked over, I looked at all these cans. I thought, does that look— and then I turned and said, ah, that's like a pug dog. It's like a French bulldog. I mean, that is really neat. But there's a company that's obviously helping. So that's another thing. If you're listening and you're a business person or executive, just as Lisa says, she doesn't need help just now. The next 2 weeks. She needs help throughout the year. Therefore, if you're a company, you can do things. You can get in a partnership. You can figure out how to give back. And that's one of the things I did want to talk about. I mean, the food bank is more than just, you know, come here, we're giving you food. I, I know from your website you have a lot of programs and things that you do. Could you talk about some of those programs?

Yeah, sure, Joyce. I'd be happy to. And, and really, I see volunteering as a win-win. It obviously helps us. We cannot accomplish our mission without the over 9,000 volunteers, people who volunteer every year. They're essential to our success. But it's also for a company, it's a real good team-building opportunity. We have employees get very competitive with each other when they're in packaging up food. So it's fun. It's social, but it also helps to build teams within, within companies. So yes, so we have a robust— people think of us in terms of our core, which is really acquiring and then distributing food throughout our network, again, of 1,000 partners. And most of our partners are food pantries that provide grocery items. So it's actually more than food, any item you'd see at a grocery store, we could potentially get through our warehouse. And we put all of that food online so our agencies can order for us. About half of the agencies we deliver to, the other half pick up from us. And again, most are food pantries. Some of them, though, prepare a meal, such as a soup kitchen or after-school program, and we will provide the ingredients for them for those meals. So that really is core. When I think of what's core food banking, that's really what's at our core and always will be as a food bank. But as much as we're working to meet people's immediate food needs, we're also looking at the other end of that continuum, like what more can we do to truly end hunger? And so we have a resource center where we still, we still get over 100 phone calls a day from people in need of food. We find out that they have other needs. Maybe it's to enroll in healthcare or utility help. But mostly also in terms of jobs and job training opportunities. So we're really a connector, connecting people to those opportunities so that someday they no longer need food assistance. That's our goal, right? Our goal is, frankly, to shorten the lines at our food pantries and to work so that people no longer need our services. And so we have our resource center, we have a whole child nutrition team devoted to the summer food program, the after-school program, making sure kids have those nutritious meals when they're outside of the school day. So whether that's after school or during the summertime, we're really focused heavily on what more can we do to provide meals to kids so that they have that essential kind of building block that will ensure that they're successful now and in the future. And then we focus on seniors as well. We, um, half the people we serve are seniors and children. Um, and more and more, Joyce, I see more seniors coming to us than ever before, and they're on a fixed income. They're making those tough choices between paying for their medication and paying for food. And the more we can do to support them, um, and make sure they have, again, enough nutritious food to eat to thrive, that's, that's our focus. So we'll We also help to enroll people in SNAP so that they have those benefits. So in addition to getting food from a food pantry where we're a part of someone's grocery solution, people have their own money in their pocket. They also get— may receive SNAP benefits, and then they come to a food pantry. So when you put it all together, we want to make sure people have the resources they need to have food to eat each and every day.

You know, and imagine if you have a family. Oh my goodness, you know, the need for food when you come there. One question I have is, do you find that when people come there, especially for the first time, that they feel a little embarrassed?

You know, I hear that, and you know, it's— I'm glad you raised that point because As a food banker, we're really good about talking the big numbers and all the things we do, right? Right. We, we distribute enough food for almost 54 million meals last year. We'll serve 130,000 people a month. We have 18 million pounds of fresh produce we distributed. Over 50% of what we distribute is fresh food. So we have all these big numbers and that is important. Don't get me wrong, we want to have an impact. We are having a tremendous impact in the community. But what's also really important, that's foundational to us, is how we do the work. That when people come to our food pantry here in Duquesne, that they see people who look like them, who speak their language. It looks like a little grocery store. It reduces or even eliminates the stigma so that people feel good about coming here, and then they'll come back. That's what we want. If you're in need, we're here at your time of need. They'll come back. Or if they have a family member or friend who's in need, they can say, well, I went to the food bank in Duquesne and it was a really good experience. I was really nervous. I thought it was, you know, I didn't know what to expect, but I felt comfortable. I was welcomed in. And, you know, frankly, it's hard for any of us to ask for help. And so I believe it takes a lot of courage. When I'm in the market, I'll thank people for coming to us because I know how much courage it takes to ask for help.

Yeah. Yeah, it does. But yeah, you're doing the right thing. You're providing for your family, for yourself. But you could be that person someday that's volunteering at the food bank, helping other people. Things just seem to happen like that to good people that are caring people. So good. That's good. Now, here's something I have wondered. How do you get the food? I'm always wondering, how the heck do they get all that food?

Yeah. And it's a mix. I put our food in 3 categories. Everyone thinks of us that all of our— may think that all of our food is donated. Well, that's one category. And that is, in fact, about 50% of the food. Of the food we distribute is donated food, but then 30— 20% is government commodities. So the biggest way the federal government supports food banks is actual food, and I'll come back to that in a minute. So we have 50% donated, 20% the government, then 30% is purchased. What we don't get donated or from the government, we will purchase. And those are items like eggs and milk and meat. We'll purchase those. Our agencies typically will purchase that from us to cover our costs. But then, of course, everything goes out to families at no cost. So it is this mix of donated government commodities and purchased food so that we can have a complete array of— a good variety of food. I will say we're not a grocery store, so we don't have the number of items, say, at a Giant Eagle, but we really focus on those core grocery items. Again, peanut butter, tuna fish, milk, eggs, meat, canned fruit, canned vegetables, beans, really those kind of core grocery items. But produce, the biggest change since I've been at the food bank, Joyce, is the type of One of the biggest changes is the type of food that we have. When I started in 1996, almost all of the food was shelf-stable, right? A lot of canned goods, boxed meals. And now fast forward to today, almost 30 years later, and over 40% is fresh produce. And when you factor in milk and eggs and other fresh food, over 50% of what we distribute is fresh. And that's so important because— Wow. The most nutritious food, and it's expensive at the grocery store. It's what people want and need. So I'm really proud of the work we've done. We have a whole team devoted to acquiring that food. Really proud of the work that we do to get the most nutritious food on our inventory for agencies to order.

So you have people that donate, and then give me an example. What do you— for our listeners, what do you mean by an agency?

Yes. Well, and let me go— let me— let's start with the donations. So when I say we get, you know, 18 million pounds of fresh produce, some of that is local. There are about 40 farms, you know, here in southwestern Pennsylvania. We're quite hilly. We don't have huge farms, but we have some really terrific farmers here who donate during the growing season, right? Summer, late spring, summer, early fall. So about 40 area farms that donate food.. But then a lot of our food comes from— really, it could be anywhere around the world. We'll get apples from the state of Washington or upstate New York. We're part of a produce cooperative that's located at the Port of Philadelphia, the largest produce port on the East Coast. And we'll get produce that comes in from other countries that'll land at the Port of Philadelphia, and then that'll be donated. They don't have a buyer. Just speculation and they don't have a buyer. And so we'll get some of that produce as well. So, so we get food from really all over. We, we, we buy from food brokers. They'll have special deals and we'll purchase that. And yeah, so we really get food from, from all over. But now I lost my train of thought here. Joyce Bender.

Agencies. I was asking— Oh, the agencies.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so we'll get all this, we'll put it on our inventory, the agencies can look online and place an order for all the food items. So most of our agencies are very small, they're volunteer-run. Some of them are in churches or synagogues or community centers, some could be a senior high-rise, and again, most are volunteer-run, most are pretty small. They may operate one day a month, And we encourage them, we're looking for agencies that would be open more frequently, especially because of our focus on fresh produce. As you know, it doesn't last always a whole month, so we encourage agencies to be open more than once a month. And we encourage them to be what we call a choice pantry, that people can come in and select items. You know, what you take into your body is very personal, so food's personal. You know, people don't always like, you know, if it's pre-bagged or pre-boxed. We all have our preferences. And so I encourage agencies, if you have to pre-box it or pre-bag it, have a swap table, you know, so people like, oh, okay, I have— I don't like corn, but I see there's some green beans on the swap table, so I'll swap out the corn for the green beans. Yeah. Yeah. So there are ways to, there's ways to do it, but I can't say enough about our amazing network. Again, so many of them are volunteer-run and really committed volunteers who work hard to ensure a great experience for neighbors. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that is great. That is really, it's amazing how many ways that the food comes in. That's amazing. Okay, so if someone's listening to the show, Lisa, and they want to make a donation to the food bank, what do they do?

Yep, I would, I would tell them to please go to our website, uh, pittsburghfoodbank.org, and they can make a donation right there online. I mean, they can certainly call us and we'll be happy to take a donation over the phone, 412-460- 3663. They could do that as well. So always looking for people to donate, volunteer, or the third, third aspect is advocacy. Really important to us is to advocate. That's how we will make some systemic changes is advocating. There's really this public-private partnership that we have with the government. It's our responsibility together to ensure people have enough food and resources they need to thrive.

Mm-hmm. So if people have, like here at our office, if we had a food drive, we could get that big basket of food and take it to you. Is that correct? You could.

We could provide you a, you know, a barrel with the signage or boxes with signage. You could collect food. You could keep it there. There's, with 1,000 partners, as you can imagine, there's There may be a food pantry closer to where you are than coming to Duquesne. We're happy. We will— we, we take donations in every day, but we're also happy if you hold a food drive and keep that in your own community. There are a lot of different ways to do this. I've seen some companies that they may do a food drive every month, but it could focus on an item like the month of January could be a peanut butter food drive. Oh, that is neat. Yeah. Could be a diaper drive, um, because again, you know, a lot of—

it's amazing how many people need that.

Yes, you know, so there's, there's different ways to— there's a lot of creativity that goes into companies having food drives.

Well, with that, it is time for our news on the half hour with our own Jennifer Mathis. And oh my goodness, Jennifer, I have a great compliment for you. My husband was watching one of the shows and he said, wow, that news lady you have is so good. She is really smart. I said, yes, that's the person I told you about that works for Bazelon that is known nationally. I think he thought you were the guest. But he said, well, she's really— tell her I said that, that she's really good. Okay, so I'm telling you, you're— that he said you're really good, but we already know that. And this is Mathis on the Mic, our new segment, and Jennifer is with Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law as one of the most senior in the United States leaders on justice for people with mental health disabilities. So, Jennifer, do you have news for us today?

Yes, I do. So I thought today I would highlight a resource that we issued maybe about 3 weeks ago, 2 or 3 weeks ago, with the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Bazelon Center and Corporation for Supportive Housing together issued a guide that's called Preserving Medicaid Coverage for People with Disabilities: What Federal Disability Rights Laws Require of States. And what this guide is, it's designed for people with disabilities, it's designed for advocates and family members, and also state policymakers. And it is designed in the wake of the budget reconciliation bill that Congress passed that is now about to require significant changes to Medicaid, including Medicaid work requirements and also more frequent eligibility redeterminations that are expected to result in many people, millions of people, losing their Medicaid coverage. And as we have talked about you know, as you've said, um, on your show, Medicaid coverage is a lifeline for so many people with disabilities in particular and covers the home and community-based services that so many people need to succeed and that aren't covered any other way except through Medicaid. And so it is important, and many people have made some sorts of recommendations about what states can do in the wake of what Congress has done and looking forward to what happens as they start implementing the work requirements and the more frequent eligibility redeterminations, what they can do to try to prevent people from losing Medicaid inappropriately, you know, getting caught up in red tape and not being able to navigate the complexities and the bureaucracy of this process. And so our guide is a little bit different because it's not just about making good policy recommendations, it's about what federal disability rights laws require. So what the ADA requires of states, what Section 504 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act require, because they require states to ensure that people with disabilities have equal opportunity in Medicaid programs and ensure that they're making reasonable modifications to their Medicaid programs for people with disabilities. And so we came at it through that lens, and we made a bunch of recommendations for how states can, can take steps to try to ensure they're complying with those federal disability rights laws, like, for example, providing help, making sure they have people who are available to help somebody whose disability is gonna make it hard for them to navigate this complex process of showing that they are meeting a work requirement or they're exempt from the work requirement. Allowing people to self-attest, 'cause that's one thing the law gives states the option to do, is to say, instead of requiring all kinds of documentation from people, you can simply take the option of allowing them to attest, "I have a disability that exempts me from these work requirements. My disability is X, blah, blah, blah." So things like that, and broadly defining within the parameters of what the law says, broadly defining who falls in those exempt categories, which has a lot of disability disability-related subcategories to it. So those are, I think, important considerations for states and important things for people with disabilities and advocates to think about and to understand when they are asking their states or demanding their states take steps to ensure that people don't get unnecessarily hurt by these work requirements or in this redeterminations process that now is going to happen every 6 months. So it's on our website, bazelon.org, B-A-Z-E-L-O-N dot O-R-G. It's on our homepage and it's called Preserving Medicaid Coverage for People with Disabilities. What federal disability rights laws require of states.

Oh, I'll tell you what, uh, Jennifer, you know, I'm hearing you tell all this and I'm wondering how much will that— I hope that will help because I was just telling Lisa this is so horrifying. It doesn't go into effect until after the midterms, right?

Well, different pieces of it go into effect at different times and The work requirements for the most part would start at the beginning of 2027, although they can get pushed back if a state shows it's doing stuff in good faith and it needs more time. And I think the more frequent eligibility redeterminations actually start earlier. So some of it goes into effect more quickly than that.

So those people could lose their Medicaid right now then? Yes. Lisa, did you want to say something?

I don't know if it's right now. I do know that that determination could happen sooner before 2027. I just don't know the timing. As Jennifer mentioned, the different pieces of this will be implemented at different times. But what a tremendous resource.

Yeah, it's, it's, I think the states are figuring out right now what they need to have in place. So right now is the time to start talking to policymakers about it.

Yeah. Is there, I was going to say, what should our listeners do?

Well, you can go on our website and you can find the guide, take a look at it, and I think it is useful to have some conversation. Contact your state Medicaid agency if you can figure out what that is. You can just, if you don't know what it's called, you can just do a Google search. You can probably figure it out. You can go through your legislator's office often too to get help with that. You know, they will often help, or your congressperson will often help you. Depends who your congressperson is, but, but, you know, in many cases they are willing to help, you know, people with their efforts to communicate with the state policymakers to say, please do these things. You can pick out a few things. You can pick out, you know, plain language for communicating with people with intellectual disabilities. That's a reasonable modification that states are gonna have to make if they are dealing with these work requirements and dealing with more frequent eligibility determinations that might boot off people because they have an intellectual disability that makes it more difficult for them to navigate these processes. So all of these things, there's a bunch of recommendations in there. You can just send the guide to your state policymakers, or you can pick out things that are meaningful to you and reach out to your state Medicaid agency or your state disability services director, the mental health director, or the developmental disabilities system director. Everything's organized differently in different states. But, you know, just ask, ask your congressperson for help or ask your state representatives for help if you need it.

Well, folks, I am so thrilled to have you. Joyce Bender, she's the voice. She's the voice for so many people. And you will not believe how many people are calling me about this. So thank you, Jennifer. We'll go to that website. We'll get that information. So for those of you celebrating Christmas, I wish you a wonderful holiday day. And Hanukkah, I have been— oh, I have so many friends I've been getting in touch with because what a time we're going through. But I'll get back to what I said about the holidays, what Mr. Rogers said, 3 things. Number 1, kindness. Number 2, kindness. Number 3, kindness. We all have to reach out. This is that time to remember the least of these. Jennifer, thank you so much and have a wonderful holiday. I look forward to talk to you soon. Thank you.

You too. Take care.

All right. So, you know what, I was going to ask you this during this time. Here we are. 2 days before Christmas, what happens at the food bank? Do you get like an onslaught of people?

What happens? This is our, you know, November, December, our busiest time, both in terms of people in need of food assistance, but also in terms of the helpers, people, this is Pittsburgh at its best, right? Coming out and helping people during the holiday time. So, So, so while the demand is so high, we also have great support from the community. But yeah, it's, as you can imagine, Joyce Bender, the holidays put added pressure on families. It's also wintertime with the cold weather and the heating costs are going up and, and, and be, they're very high right now with it being so cold here in Pittsburgh this week. But that added pressure of the meal around Thanksgiving or gifts at Christmas. It just has added stressors on families and, you know, makes it more challenging. So anything that we can do to ensure people have food, that's one less stress or worry on a family. So certainly we do see more people coming to us this time of year because of that.

And if you are one of those people, Lisa, where do they go? Mon Valley to Duquesne. If they go to the website, do you have, you have the address, I assume.

If you go to the website, there's a fine food guide and you can put in your zip code and you can find a pantry in your, in your community by zip code. So there is an easy way when our website opens that you can enter your zip code. And you can find where there's a food pantry near you, uh, where you can receive food assistance.

And you know, this is wonderful, uh, and it's a wonderful time. It's a great time to remember those that, as I said, have been left out. Many people with disabilities live in poverty, many. And so I hope you will Take time to donate. The food bank. What is the website again, Lisa?

Pittsburghfoodbank.org. Pittsburghfoodbank.org.

And, you know, I support children around the world in Africa, different countries through World Vision that, you know, having a goat, having a chicken, you know, I mean, at their home to help them get food. They have so little. And, you know, we all know that. We all know that it's like that around the world. But do you realize there are people right here in the United States that have food insecurity? What does that mean when people say that, Lisa? What does that mean?

We have 300,000 of our neighbors here in southwestern Pennsylvania who are food insecure, which means they don't always know where their food's coming from, where their next meal is coming from. It's different than hunger. Hunger's the physical aspect of not having enough to eat, but that food insecurity is that you are worrying or you just don't know if you'll have, you know, where's your next meal? When are you going to be able to eat again? And all too often, I mean, the thought of kids going to bed hungry, not being sure. I had a counselor at a local school district tell me, "We're in desperate need of food, Lisa." They called me a number of years ago. "We have kids with increased anxiety on Fridays." and behavior problems on Mondays. So think about this was a middle school, so a 6th grader being anxious about not having enough food to eat over the weekend, then when they come back to school on Mondays having behavior problems because they can't focus because they're hungry, they haven't had enough to eat. Um, that should not happen anywhere in the world. It definitely should not happen here in the Pittsburgh region.

Yeah, and you know, when you sit down to the table and you're eating, you don't realize, you know, how blessed you are that you have the opportunity to go to the grocery store and easily get something to eat. That's why I want you to take this really seriously. You know, when I thought about Lisa, I thought, you know what, I'm going to have her on the radio show because I can't go out and find every single person to donate if I'm walking around or driving around, but I can on the radio. So I really, I really feel this. I just, it's just terrible to think of people being insecure. Yeah, I could see that. Angry on Friday, behavioral issues on Monday. I could just see that happening. So you have almost— wow, before I ask that, how many meals are provided monthly in Pittsburgh and the surrounding counties?

Well, this past year we provided food for almost 54 million meals. So if you divide by 12, that's about 4.5 million meals a month. Again, to over, over a year's time, 300,000 of our neighbors who are food insecure. Half of whom are seniors or children. It's a significant problem. We interact every day with people who are food insecure. We just don't know it, right? It's not obvious to us. But, you know, when the SNAP benefits were withheld a couple months ago, people were shocked to learn that 1 in 8 Americans receiving SNAP benefits, I mean, 1 in 8 of us, In Allegheny County alone, it was $30 million in SNAP benefits a month going out to our neighbors every month. 1 in 8, and again, we interact with people every day who are food insecure. You just, it could be somebody working at a grocery store, at a company, a janitor at a company or a university. I mean, it just more and more that I talked about the biggest change, one of the biggest changes since I've been in food banking is the type of food, right? Our focus now on fresh food. The other big change is who it is we're, we're serving. It's such a higher percentage of households with somebody who's working. We, we serve more and more people who are working. They're just not earning the wages to be able to put food on the table every day for themselves and their families.

And you were saying about the elderly, of course we have the second largest population of elderly And it's getting bigger and bigger. So, you know, I can see more and more of a need. How many a month did you say?

How many meals a month? That would be probably about— if you divide it equally every month, it's 4.5 million. Food for 4.5 million meals. I mean, wow.

Just, I want you to get that in your mind, okay? If you're listening, thank you. So we're not talking about a few hundred. Or $100,000. We're talking about millions, $4 million every month. Wow, that's a lot of people in need. Um, and, and you mentioned you have over 9,000 volunteers, which you've already explained. If you want to volunteer, go to the website, you'll see how you can volunteer. Uh, and, and, you know, food bank needs money Food bank needs people to help because of, of such a need for so many things. I want to know, Lisa, who your role model is.

Gosh, well, the first person that comes to mind might surprise some people, but I'm a huge baseball fan. My dad started to take me when I was 6 to Forbes Field. And one of my, you know, there's so many people who are well known and people who aren't, who've just been mentors to me and have been really significant in my life. But for somebody who people may know, it would be Roberto Clemente. I knew it.

I knew you were going to say that, Lisa. And Lisa, I too am a major baseball fan. I wish you all could see my office, but I'm looking at all pictures of the Pirates, and right in the center is the one and only, the great Roberto Clemente. And I'll bet I know why, but tell everyone why he is your role model.

Well, he was such an inspiration in terms of giving back and community service, how he carried himself, his compassion, his caring, uh, for his fellow neighbors. It really instilled in me— I was just so struck by not, I mean, only the great player he was. I loved to watch him field the ball, the basket catch. I loved how he swung and how he ran the bases. I know, Joyce, you could see he had very distinct style, but it was really off the field that, that really impressed me. And it was such an honor a number of years ago to meet Vera and his sons at an event that the Pirates held on Roberto Clemente Day that supported the food bank. I really was overwhelmed by having an opportunity to meet her and talk about her husband and Roberto and how he had an impact. I truly believe I'm doing what I'm doing because of him and because of the many other people in my life who really have inspired me to give back.

And he died giving back. He did. Yes, he died giving back because he was going to Nicaragua and it was to help people from that earthquake, right? And, and it was during the holiday. I think it was New Year's Eve or close to New Year's Eve. It was. And look at that. Look how he died. He died giving back. Yeah. Well, Lisa, I can't wait till you come to my office. And yes, everyone, I'm a hardcore Pittsburgh Pirates fan, so I'm like the Cubs fan I'm still buying season tickets, and I have been since Three Rivers Stadium. So I— and I love Roberto. I do. Everywhere I go, when I went to Puerto Rico, there's Clemente Street, Clemente that, and all you have to say is, who was the greatest baseball player? Oh, Roberto. Roberto Clemente. Well, I wanted to ask you also, as you're thinking about this, is there like a success story or even just something, something that happened at the food bank that really stayed with you, you know, that really impacted you?

Oh my God, Joyce, just, well, how much time do we have now? You know, there's just been, you know, the, The impact we've had on people's lives. Again, you know, it's so easy to talk those big numbers, but it's really about the human beings, right? Food is a basic human need, right? And the way that we've impacted people, I will say what comes to mind is during the early days of the pandemic when we established— we had the drive-up distribute, right? We had to completely change how we distributed food. And we held drive-up distributions. So we would have— bring the food to a location and the cars would line up and drive through because the numbers were so incredibly high. We had to figure out how very quickly we could get as much food out to the biggest number of people, to the most people we could. And there were some of those distributions that I stood at the end as the cars were driving away And just, I waved to people waving and smiling. That's an image that I will never forget, is just the joy on people's faces as they drove away from those large distributions. I'll say in our own on-site food pantry, I go down there and I'll just sometimes sit with people and chat with them, but I'll see people with the buggies full of fresh produce and eggs and milk. And with huge smiles on their face, taking their food items out to the car. I mean, nothing gives me more joy than seeing that. You know, it could be a parent with a child. It could be a senior, could be someone from a refugee or an immigrant family. It just brings me such joy to see that. I will also say in recent months, I've had a couple of people tell me that getting food from a food pantry actually saved their lives. There was a woman at a local— Ah! There was a woman who was a server at a local establishment, and when she heard I was from the food bank, she said, "I would not have made it. I would not have lived if I hadn't received food from a food bank about a year ago," before she got this job. And so really hearing that, yeah, it's very humbling, I will say. Wow.

Well, I will say, Lisa, you are a very good person, and I'm just so glad you're right here in Pittsburgh. Uh, and I hope you will go to that food bank and make a contribution. Come on, everyone, 2 days from Christmas, you've got to remember, make that donation. One more time, Lisa, what's the website?

If you would go to www.pittsburghfoodbank.org you can make a donation on our website, www.pittsburghfoodbank.org. Thank you. Well, thank you, Lisa.

We went every show, we end with a quote. Before I do that, remember, if you were listening and you want to share this, you can go to YouTube or go right to Spotify, most social media, and you can hear the show and share the show. So here's our quote. Had to be, had to be. Everyone knows how I love Dickens. Took a Geneva College class. Business, cried the ghost, wringing its hand again. Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business. Charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence. Were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business. Remember that mankind is your business. Don't forget to give. And in the words of Mary Brooker, when you go out tomorrow, you remember Choose joy. You can't go wrong. Talk to you all next week.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. Voice America Joyce Bender.com.