Pittsburgh-area boy helps food bank get donation of 19,000 pounds of cereal
A 13-year-old had a big idea, and it came true in a huge way.
Thanks to Ender Lin, more than 19,000 pounds of cereal were donated to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which will serve countless people across Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Lin came to a realization on Wednesday morning as he stood inside a tractor-trailer filled to the brim with boxes of cereal packed in more than 40 pallets.
"It doesn't hurt to ask," Lin said.
Crews started hauling them off and lining them up in the warehouse at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne. It's all because of a letter that the eighth grader at Community Day School in Pittsburgh emailed to the Kellogg Company in November as part of a service project for an extracurricular class at the Jewish Community Center.
He and his mom, Claire Topal, didn't know what to expect.
"He wrote the letter to the CEO, and there was a position, like the head of well-being, and he thought, 'Oh, that seems like someone that would want to donate to a food bank,'" Topal said.
Lin's goal was to get the company to gift cereal to the Jewish Family and Community Services Squirrel Hill Food Pantry, having seen firsthand how the non-profit organization is serving a great need in the area that's continuing to grow.
"We hosted some Ukrainians that came in at our house, and they went to the JFCS food pantry, and it really helped them out," Lin said.
Then last week, pantry director Jesse Sharrard got a call from the food bank that a truckload was on the way.
"Ender's request to help our pantry is going to wind up going a lot further," Sharrard said.
The donation that was much greater than they could ever anticipate is now going not just to the pantry, but to the entire bank's network across 11 counties.
"It makes me feel really grateful and happy that they listened and they went out of their way to help us," Lin said.
To think, it all came down to a letter from a young teen.
"Hopefully, it maybe inspires other kids to know they have power to do this kind of thing," Topal said.
So, if there's one thing Lin wants to tell his peers, it's these words.
"You can do this," Lin said.
Because, as Lin said, you never know unless you ask.