As the birthplace of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Pittsburgh knows a thing or two about being a good neighbor. But Hello Neighbor, a Homewood-based nonprofit that provides support to immigrants and refugees, takes it a step further. CEO Sloane Davidson and her team make it a mission to uplift Pittsburgh’s newest neighbors in thorough and culturally sensitive ways, helping them find healthcare, housing, education and more. At a time when tensions around immigration reform and immigrants’ roles in their communities are higher than ever, in-person programming is one of the best ways to let people know about Hello Neighbor’s mission. That’s where the Neighborhood Nosh, the fundraiser Davidson has spearheaded over the past few years, comes in.
Hello Neighbor’s Neighborhood Nosh Will Put the Fun in Fundraiser
“The concept of the event is framed around giving a few awards to dedicated supporters of Hello Neighbor in a few categories. We have 4 awards we give out New Neighbor Champion, New Neighbor Advocate, Good Neighbor, and Volunteer of the Year,” Davidson said.
The Neighbor Champion is a community leader in the town of Duquesne, Brian Stowell, who Davidson describes as a “great person and great teacher.”
The New Neighbor Champion will go to controller and mayoral candidate Corey O’Connor, who Davidson said has been a supporter of Hello Neighbor from the get-go. “He came to the very first Hello Neighbor event when I had literally just named it Hello Neighbor and set it up at the Shop [former venue in Homewood],” Davidson said.
This year’s Good Neighbor is Kimpton Hotel Monaco, which has employed many of Hello Neighbor’s clients. “They say that they no longer have trouble hiring, as many other businesses downtown have,” Davidson said. “There’s sort of that narrative in the region, but Kimpton has been really vocal that they’ve solved that problem. They’ve found a way through this negative stereotype our region doubles down on. They’ve been fantastic.”
The Volunteer of the Year in 2025 is not just one person, but a whole collective: The Church of the Ascension in Shadyside. “Usually we only do one, but Church of the Ascension far and away has been our biggest supporter for volunteers, so, we’re highlighting all of them!” Davidson said.
Celebrating Pittsburgh’s Immigrant-Owned Restaurants
But the Neighborhood Nosh is not just about community-members receiving awards. Davidon stressed it’s also meant to be fun, something many fundraisers miss out on. “The feedback I got for days afer the first one was ‘that was actually really fun.’ And I was like ‘I know, I’ve been to so many of these that are terrible,’” Davidson—who has a long career in philanthropy and digital marketing and has attended many a fundraiser—said. “But truly, it’s a good time and people were straight up shocked that that was even possible. I’m really proud of that and I think it’s a really big differentiator. We put the ‘fun’ in fundraiser.”
Part of what makes the party such a good time is the food. Davidson explicitly picks venues where Hello Neighbor can bring its own food. The 2025 Neighborhood Nosh will feature local Syrian, Afghan, Guatemelan, Uzbek, and Congolese restaurants, among others. “I’ve been to as many rubber chicken dinners downtown as you,” Davidson said. “This is not that.”
Many of the featured restaurants are employers for Hello Neighbor’s clients. “We used to do more of a cookie table style with just sweets from immigrant-owned restaurants, but there was too much of a sugar crash,” Davidson remembered. “People were just crawling out the door.” So, the last few iterations of Neighborhood Nosh have had full entrees with both savory and sweet options, plus an open bar and live music, including this year from an African musician currently on a world tour, Davidson hinted.
A Way to Find Joy in Darkness
Rather than scale tickets and have VIP access, Davidson opted to make the tickets all one price. The tickets for the Neighborhood Nosh are a flat 150, which, in today’s economy is essentially the price of one meal at a moderately-priced restaurant. Over 80% of every donation will go directly to supporting Hello Neighbor’s programming.
It’s undeniable that 2025 is a fraught moment for conversations around immigration. “There was a lot of talk of ‘Do we do this event at all? What is there to celebrate this year? But I ultimately do believe that we need to highlight our clients and our incredible businesses and our community neighbors who are putting themselves forward to help their new neighbors,” Davidson said. Events like the Neighborhood Nosh put a face to the advocates doing the work to help refugees. It puts in real context the fact that refugees could be your neighbor, someone you share a meal with.
“I hope people leave the event with a feeling of hope, community, and resilience,” Davidson said. “Hope, because despite the politics, media, and hardship that many of our immigrant families are facing, we’re still human and we can still come together and celebrate.” She’s going into the Neighborhood Nosh with one of her personal philosophies: “Even if 23 hours out of a day can be hard, can you have 1 hour of joy?” For a good cause, the Neighborhood Nosh promises far more than just one hour of joy.
Story by Emma Riva
Photo courtesy of Hello Neighbor
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