Pittsburgh-area food banks team up to combat food insecurity during Hunger Action Month

September is Hunger Action Month. As the calendar turns over, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is undertaking a massive effort to end food insecurity.

National, state and local hunger-relief networks are teaming up to try to cut hunger in half by 2035.

Box by box, every meal and volunteer shows the tremendous need for food in the community.

"Hunger Action Month is a time to raise awareness, inspire action, and remind ourselves that hunger exists," said Charla Irwin-Buncher, the chief external affairs officer with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

That hunger exists and persists in our community and across the country. 

"Many of the people our network serves are one crisis away from being able to afford to live," said Julie Bancroft, Feeding Pennsylvania's chief executive officer.

Living in general means food is a necessity, not a luxury. Most recently, according to Feeding Pennsylvania, nine food banks serve 1.77 million Pennsylvanians every year. 

Due to recent policy changes, 218,000 people left SNAP benefits, an 11% decline in Pennsylvania since the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law.

"Hunger doesn't always look the way you expect it to look. It could be your neighbor, it could be your co-worker, your teammate," said Jennifer Miller, Westmoreland Food Bank's chief executive officer.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank focused on connecting neighbors with health, housing and employment resources.

"It's not just isolated to one group of people or one community. But it takes all of us coming together to solve it," said Charlese McKinney, chief program officer for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Those solutions involve everyone in the community. 

"Everyone can do something, whether it's giving your time, your dollars or lending your voice," McKinney said.

For more information on how you can get involved, click here.