I Love This Place: Corner Cupboard Food Bank

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! There’s a Virtual Food Drive going on right now on Facebook! It doesn’t involve canned goods – it just involves writing a check. Corner Cupboard Food Bank director Candace Webster wants you to know this virtual drive will run until December 31 to help cover the cost of hunger’s increasing needs. With winter already here, these next few months will not be easy for those who are struggling to keep food on the table. It will not be easy being out of school all winter with no guarantee of a lunch or healthy snacks, or being old and maybe alone and running low on everything.

If you are wondering what Corner Cupboard Food Bank is all about, it’s about all of this and more.

Corner Cupboard Food Bank – Greene County’s answer to making sure neighbors do not go hungry – started out as a great notion in October 1992 in the basement of the County Office Building on High Street, Waynesburg. In those early days it was manned by dedicated volunteers who hand loaded each order for those who came from every corner of the county. When need outgrew the basement, the county commissioners donated land near the county jail on Rolling Meadows Road and a capital campaign raised more than $300,000 to build the complex that now houses Corner Cupboard Food Bank. It is a warehouse-sized command and distribution center for a network of 11 monthly food pantry sites throughout the county. And as it has been since the beginning, pantries are volunteer driven. Food boxes are packed and served up at these sites by folks who know their neighbors and are willing to go the extra mile – or three! to make sure they get their groceries and get them safely home.

Candace Webster – now in her fifth year of executive duty – was excited to be this month’s “I Love This Place” focus (who doesn’t love not being hungry!) It’s been awhile since the story’s been told how this non-profit charitable organization does its good work and more importantly – how to access these services if you or someone you love is facing food insecurity and you don’t know what to do.

Emergency Boxes is a one-time service for those who need temporary food assistance based on an urgent need. Many who go in for an emergency box end up registering to be part of their township pantry roster.

Corner Cupboard’s big warehouse is where food and fixings are stored until parceled out through these programs:

Monthly Food Pantries provide groceries to people who meet the income guidelines for food assistance.

Senior Boxes or CSFP (Commodity Supplemental Food Program) is a Federal Program through USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services designed to improve the health of seniors. In Greene County these boxes that are offered to income eligible people over age 60, are distributed in partnership with Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

When school’s out and kids are at high risk for hunger, the Kids Bag Program is added to the monthly pantry offerings for families with school age children. With students doing school at home, Kids Bags are available now going forward.

Think you might be eligible?

Call Corner Cupboard 724-627-9784 for an appointment. You’ll be asked for household size, monthly income before bills are paid, proof of residency – for example, a recent utility bill with your address on it and a valid photo id. Once you’ve been enrolled, you’ll be assigned to a pantry based on where you live.

Now that the winter season has brought back pandemic restrictions, those who visit pantries will stay in their vehicles and let those hard working, masked up volunteers bring the food to you.

Prepared lunches for Greene County’s students.

For those with a hankering to help out during these uncertain times, don’t forget – you can operate your own Virtual Food Pantry until December 31 and ask your friends to donate cash to a hunger crunching cause. Or just write your own donation check to Corner Cupboard Food Bank 881 Rolling Meadows Road Waynesburg PA 15370. And don’t forget every $5 donation turns into $25 worth of commodity food that is available through a national food chain of food banks and hunger organizations.

Candace’s latest note for the story spells it out. “We have seen an uptick in the number of people that we are serving, especially this time of year. Right now our pantries are serving more than 2000 people a month.”