One in Five Children in Western PA are Food Insecure. Let’s Help!
The headlines are clear. Just as Pittsburghers ready themselves for Thanksgiving and the rest of the winter holidays, food insecurity is on the rise. Just when every household in the region wants to focus on drawing their near and dear together in the American tradition of gratitude and friendship, Lisa Scales, President and CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, says that food insecurity is up 13% this year in Allegheny County. Need is knocking on the doors of many of our neighbors.
Freedom from Want?
Norman Rockwell’s 1943 painting, Freedom from Want, is one of the many thousands of images stored in my brain. As a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, its depiction of a pair of sweet grandparents serving a Thanksgiving turkey resonated. Were my grandparents or great-grandparents quite that sweet? No. The men were brusque, get-it-done and get-it-done-perfectly guys who measured your worth in what you could do not in what you had or what you looked like. If they found you wanting, you knew it immediately. The women had nurturing and kindness in their quivers, though they were, it must be said, prone to snapping a dishtowel in your direction to get you out of the way.
Nonetheless, something about Rockwell’s image rang true. My great-grandparents on Hastings Street in Point Breeze held crowded holiday gatherings in their home for most of my childhood years. The menu was dependable: turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, salad, dinner rolls, and pies. Salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning were the only flavorings…unless you consider the love that fueled my great-grandmother and her daughters through the preparation of the meal, and the hilarious stories my great-grandfather and his sons in law told around the table. Some of those oft-repeated stories were as reassuringly familiar as the food.
My great-grandfather, a streetcar driver, was able to feed his eight grandsons, and their children, on his dependable union wage. He and his working-class family enjoyed “freedom from want,” one of four goals for American life described by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union speech. But, decades later, times have changed for many working people.
One in Five Children in Allegheny County are Food Insecure
Lisa Scales says, “According to Feeding America’s 2025 Map the Meal Gap, more than 320,000 individuals in our 11-county service area are food insecure, including nearly 160,000 in Allegheny County. That’s one in eight of our neighbors, including one in five children.”
What’s behind this phenomenon? “Food insecurity,” Scales explains, “is a lack of access to nutritious food. When poverty, inequality and crisis collide, empty plates follow. Many families are facing financial strains right now for various reasons, including lost jobs due to the government shutdown, as well as cuts to SNAP benefits. The cost of nutritious food has also increased, making it harder for families to afford food.”
What Can We Do to Help Ease Hunger in Our Area?
The problem is huge, and it will get worse without coherent and speedy action from Washington, DC. As always, our noble non-profit sector looks to bridge the gaps left open by governments and corporations. These wonderful organizations need us to step up and donate money and time in these moments of crisis. Scales is up front about the need: “Every dollar donated and every volunteer hour helps increase our ability to serve more families. Visit our website to donate, volunteer or advocate for our mission.”
“More people using food services will lead to a shortage of resources and our region is not yet fully equipped to handle a large influx of food insecure households. Consistent food security is vital in managing chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease and without it the health of the entire population starts to deteriorate. Table readers who want to help can consider donating to Metro Community Health Center. Metro frequently hosts free produce distributions for food insecure communities, and as this shutdown continues, that need will only grow,” says Michael Mingrone, President and CEO of Metro Community Health Center.
Working together as a community
Making a donation has an effect not just on non-profit bottom lines. Working constructively together to solve also brings us together as a community. “We work to bridge the distance not only between surplus food and hunger relief networks but also between people seeking to build stronger community with each other,” says 412 Food Rescue CEO Alyssa Cholodofsky. “Now more than ever, and especially during the holidays, those connections are vital. Whether you’re contributing surplus food, a donation, or your time, you are our heroes. Together, we can overcome anything.”
All of us at TABLE hope that you will find a moment this holiday season to donate what you can to local organizations trying to address food insecurity.
Story by Keith Recker
Imagery: Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want (1943). Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. (03/09/1943 – 09/15/1945). This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 513539. Copyright laws apply.
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.
