Projects
Sharing & Caring Report The Annual Sharing & Caring Boat Ride was held September 5th through the 8th at Station Square Boat dock on the Gateway Clipper fleet. Fort Pitt Chapter was able to sponsor 4 Veterans through the Adopt-A-Vet program. Lynne Price, Don McIlrath, and Gerry McLaughlin are among those who helped on the boat ride and a BIG “thanks” to the Life Member Pioneers and Pioneer Partners who helped to pass out the gift bags afterwards as the Veterans boarded their buses. It’s impossible to say how much the Sharing & Caring group and the Veterans who benefit from their efforts appreciate all that the Pioneers do for them. This is our 33rd year partnering with Sharing & Caring in an effort to support hospitalized veterans and their families. We should all be very proud and the Veterans truly appreciate it!! Quilts of Valor Fund Raiser Quilts of Valor hosted a fund raiser at the VFW in Lawrenceville in October and Fort Pitt Chapter supported them by donating a handmade gift basket prepared by Donna Gallagher. You may remember that Don McIlrath was a recipient of one of the Quilts of Valor a few years ago. The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor. 20th Annual Clothing Drive at St. Bernadette Church in Monroeville For the twentieth year, the Ladies of Charity at St. Bernadette’s Church in Monroeville partnered with Fort Pitt Chapter on September 30th to sponsor a clothing drive for three homeless agencies in Pittsburgh: Jubilee Kitchen, Community Human Services, & Operation Safety Net and also Appalachian Ministries. Warm clothing, bedding, and a ton of socks were donated especially for the traveling medical van. We also provided a donation to the Ladies of Charity for their food bank which provides needy families with food. Answering The Call Grant Fort Pitt Chapter was the recipient of the Answering The Call Grant from Telecom Pioneers. The Grant theme was Jammie Time and/or Sock It To Me. Yvonne Klick from Meadville Club and Lynne Price our Member At Large volunteered to locate an organization that assisted children and would be in need of these items. It was also decided to include a book to go along with their PJ’s to encourage the children to spend some time to read. Yvonne purchased 25 pairs of PJ’s and 145 pairs of socks for Community Shelter Services in Erie for children ranging in age from 2 months old to 15 years old. The books she shared with the children were provided by a donation from Hooked On Books. Lynne purchased for the Braddock Free Store and provided them with 28 pairs of PJ’s, 36 pairs of socks, 50 children’s books and 85 pairs of children’s underwear. The Braddock Free Store is a Redux products store found by Gisele Fetterman, wife of the Mayor of Braddock. They receive surplus and donated goods and redistribute to all neighbors in the area. Since our donation was made at the beginning of the school year, the founder of the Free Store in Braddock asked Lynne if we could provide backpacks and notebooks for the children, which she did along with basic school supplies. In all, 275 children were impacted with our donations. We did go slightly over budget on the Grant but were able to subsidize due to your donations received this year. Great use of these Grant Funds! Lap Robes for Arden Court Donna and Phil Gallagher visited and donated 20 lap robes to the patients at Arden Court. This facility offers dedicated Alzheimer’s and dementia care in a safe and secure environment. It is a comfortable community with home-like setting, socializing area, dining and entertainment. Shirley C. & Donna W. & June V. are always busy preparing and donating the lap robes and we are very grateful for their efforts! Telecom Pioneers Charitable Foundation Fort Pitt Chapter was the recipient of another Grant this year from the Telecom Pioneers Charitable Foundation. The theme for this Grant was aimed at our military. The Grant was split between Lynne Crick, Yvonne Klick and Gerry McLaughlin for military care package projects. Yvonne and Lynne purchased the needed products for groups who pack ongoing care packages through The Pittsburgh Inn & Vietnam Vets Post 52 Welcome Home Association in Meadville, PA. Gerry received a donation of 90 boxes of Girl Scout cookies from the Troop in Monroeville and along with the cookies packaged 28 care packages. 2 boxes for each solider; one food box and one toiletry box. In addition to the Grant, Chapter matched some of the funds used for this project. Prom Season We missed presenting this project to you in the Spring issue and didn’t want this news to go by without sharing it with our members. Earlier this year, Bonnie Adams, Sharon Burton, Charlene Sanders and Velma Harris partnered with the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) to provide prom dresses for young girls in need of a dress. The dresses were provided to young girls in foster homes, in shelters, and had parents in the armed forces, or were just in need of a dress. No one was denied clothing. We helped the girls pick out a designer gown along with shoes, jewelry, etc., for her special occasion. It was a wonderful experience. We promised to help again when school starts by helping to shop for back to school items. We spent about 6 hours each. The look on their young faces was priceless…see for yourself: Lower Allegheny Valley Meals on Wheels Our Allegheny Club President, Esther Dietrick recently presented a check to the Meals on Wheels program in the Springdale/Cheswick area to help sustain their program. Pictured is Esther and Joanne Anderson in the MOW kitchen. kidsHELP …..at the Animal Rescue League We are now donating dog and cat food to the Animal Rescue League every other month. The kids helped this past year by delivering the food and visiting with the pets. These food donations allow pets, who may be abandoned at the shelter, to stay in their homes with their owners. Shown is Julia Conway donating her time. NEW Greeting Cards Project When we pack the duffel bags for the Sharing & Caring Boat Ride, one of the items that we include for the veterans are a couple of ‘all-occasion’ greeting cards for their personal use. Many organizations are now sending new greeting cards in the mail as a solicitation for their fund raiser and we would like to collect them from those of you who choose not to use those cards. Because of your generosity this past year, we were able to include 9 new greeting cards in the Veterans gift tote for the Sharing & Caring Boat Ride this year! Since we have now exhausted our supply, we will start to collect again for the 2018 event. Your donation of unused greeting cards and their envelopes are appreciated! You can send to: Gerry McLaughlin 216 Ohio Street Monroeville, PA 15146 …and we will be sure to include them in the Sharing & Caring duffel bags! Thank You! Hillcrest Pre-School For the past five years we have been doing a project with Hillcrest PreSchool for their educational needs for the 3 and 4 year old students they serve. This year the teachers were in need of new tables and chairs for the students to work at. Fort Pitt was able to make a donation towards the purchase of the work tables. The director and teachers there were very appreciative. Field Trip to Washington, DC Six graders from Pivik Elementary School in Plum recently took a two day field trip to Washington, DC to see the sights and learn about our government. Because the students had already done fund raising to pay for their trip, we helped the group by providing a snack bag of a juice box, rice crispie square, chips and fruit snacks. After they returned home, we were surprised to receive 61 thank you notes from the students who were the recipients of the snack bags and found their comments to be precious…here are a few:
- from Ava: thank you so much for putting together those snack bags! They were full of lots of goodies! Very scrumptious!
- from Jacob: thank you for the treat bag. It was good and we all thank you. You saved us from starvation.
- from Emily: thank you for the treat bag. It was very thoughtful of you. I was so hungry so I ate it all.
- from Payton: thank you very much for the snack bag. The treats inside were delicious. It was great to have after a long while of walking.
- from Dylan: thanks for thinking about us and giving us those snacks. I loved eating the food and drink that you took time out of your day to individually pack.
Dictionary Report: Our goal is to distribute about 40 dozen of these books! As of the beginning of this school year, we have delivered 32 dozen so we are more than half-way there. If you know of a third grade class that is need of a dictionary or fourth grade class that can use a thesaurus, please contact Nancy Riley at 412-884-4711. If we still have room left in the budget, we can get those books ordered for your school! Thanks for putting the word out! Support for our Retired and Hospitalized Armed Services Men and Women Our retired service members are provided assistance through Southwestern Veterans Center which is a residential care facility for over 200 patients. The men and women there are treated with an occasional bingo where we sponsor the prizes, and provide refreshments for the residents. We also support their monthly birthday celebrations with a giant sheet cake that serves about 80 of the residents. Also, Sharing & Caring sponsors a bingo at Southwestern Veterans Center monthly on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 2:00 PM. Please come along to help serve if you are free, you will have a wonderful time interacting with the men and women there and come away with a smile on your face! Homeless Shelter Report We continue to pack the toiletry kits for Operation Safety Net, Jubilee Kitchen and Community Human Services and have recently added Family Links who provides programs to youth ages 16-21 who are homeless or aging-out of the foster care system. A donation was made to the Light of Life Rescue Mission on the Northside to help with their programs. Nancy Stonis continues to knit hat & glove sets that we distribute to the agencies. This is the 18th year that Nancy has been providing these cozy handmade items for the homeless. Over 3,200 homeless folks have benefited from her handiwork. We all appreciate her time and efforts to help those less fortunate. Penn Hills Service Association Don recently delivered a donation to Ed Hoover at the Penn Hills Service Association to help with their food bank. For the last three years we have been able to help with their supplies. Military Connections Our local newspaper had an appeal for military care package items and we were glad to respond. In August, another of Donna and Phil Gallagher’s projects was with Military Connections request for food items. They delivered tuna packs, fruit cups, pudding, snack packs, Frito’s, nuts, gum, Lance crackers and chef Boyardee variety packs. We have already received a gracious thank you letter from the group thanking us for selecting the Troops’ favorite food items. They said the care packages are a great way for us to show support and let the troops know they are not forgotten. kidsHELP in Training For a full week last summer, Bonnie Adams, her granddaughter Eve, and five of her girlfriends, met to practice their life skills including the spirit of volunteering. They started their days at 7:30 AM and ended at 5:00 PM and learned to prepare their breakfast, from shopping to cooking. Also prepared lunch, including cooking and cleaning. Each day they discussed volunteering and made containers to collect monies for children in need of toys for Christmas. The girls came up with the name collecting “Change for a Change” for a better Christmas for children in need. They will collect money and in November we will get together again and count their money along with some matching funds from family members. They also enjoyed crafts, planning flowers, cleaning, exercising and how they can help out at home. Their first official Pioneer volunteer effort was helping to sort the new greeting cards for the Veterans for the Sharing & Caring boat ride during Labor Day Week. The girls sorted through over 1,100 new greeting cards, to provide a pack of three assorted cards for 375 veterans! They also shopped for back to school items at Target for a donation to the National Council of Jewish Women. In addition, they are matching up the socks from the contribution we received from Solmate; 25 dozen pairs for a total of 300 pairs of socks! WAY TO GO GIRLS!! Shepherd’s Heart Veterans Home In June, Donna and Phil Gallagher purchased and delivered the following items to Shepherds Heart, shelter for Veterans: foam coffee cups, sugar, tea-bags, coffee filters, coffee creamer, and coffee along with a box of assorted full size toiletries (deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and a case of Dove soap) along with a check for $100 for them to purchase needed supplies. We also purchase winter coats at thrift shops to deliver to Shepherd’s Heart for the folks who come in to pick up warm winter outerwear. Pictured is Cheryl Pickering with Phil Gallagher. EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT Chris Colligan, a Boy Scout from Harrison City, with some funding from Chapter, completed his Eagle Scout Project in August. Chris’ project consisted of replacing three old railroad ties with two stone walls at the First United Church of Christ in his area. He and his helpers replaced ties, put new stone around the cross, as well as adding mulch and white gravel around the main area of the Church. A lot of time and effort was put into this, but as you can see from the picture of the before and after the project was completed, it was well worth it and greatly appreciated by the Church. Good Job Chris!! Since 2005, Stephen Foster Club has been directly involved with the Blessings in a Backpack operation in the Wilkinsburg School District. Blessings in a Backpack is a national program that started with two schools and now serves more than 76,000 students in 44 states. It provides food for elementary school children who quality for the federal free or reduced-cost meal program to take home for food for 38 weekends during the school year. We are proud to be affiliated with this project for over 11 years. All of the food is purchased with donations and costs about $2.10 per child per week. Each week at 1:00 PM on Thursdays, the Founder, Linda Lafferty and volunteers, pick up the week’s order from Sam’s Club and then they head to Kelly Elementary School to pack 550 bags. They are usually done by 3:00 PM. The bags are filled with a package of macaroni and cheese, crackers, an individual size box of cereal, two juice boxes, a crisped rice treat, a cup of pudding or fruit, a package of microwave popcorn and fruit snacks. Blessings need help with their packing operation! If you can help, at Kelly School in Wilkinsburg on any Thursday, please contact Linda Lafferty at 412-327-9742. Thank You! Toiletry Collections As you travel, please collect the sample size soap, shampoo, lotion and any complimentary items provided by the hotels. These items are used to pack hygiene kits for the homeless folks and sent to Operation Save-A-Life, Operation Safety Net, Family Links and Jubilee Kitchen in Pittsburgh. We are no longer packing at the Verizon Garage in Monroeville and have moved the operation to Linda Schirano’s home in Monroeville. These kits are crucial – the agencies we serve continue to ask for them all year round and we typically prepare and distribute 100 kits a month. Other items that are always needed to complete the kits are washcloths, sample size toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, combs and quart size zip lock bags. You can mail the toiletries in the U.S. Mail to me: Gerry McLaughlin, 216 Ohio Street, Monroeville, PA 15146, or if you are local, please call me and we can coordinate a pick up. My number is 412-823-7777. Thank you all very much We have recently learned that the St. Jude’s Ranch for Children has terminated their program for recycling greeting card fronts. You may remember that we collected the card fronts so the students there could create a note card using parts of the card fronts. Quite a few cards fronts are on hand, so we are attempting to develop a project for using the pretty illustrations on the cards for gift tags. Until we decide what to do, please don’t send any more card fronts to Olinda Schirano. Hopefully in the Spring issue we will have more information for you and perhaps an opportunity to help with our Fundraising by purchasing gift tags. Stay tuned! Many thanks to those of you who faithfully collected the card fronts for years and years! Valentine’s Day Project 10th Annual “Hugs From Nan” Inter Community Cancer Center in Monroeville, PA For the tenth straight year, Pioneers hosted a Valentine’s Day Project at the Inter Community Cancer Center in Monroeville by honoring 48 patients undergoing radiation treatment with an over-stuffed gift bag. This year we partnered with Coldwell Bankers Real Estate to sponsor the bags. Gerry McLaughlin’s daughter Lauren Klein, an agent with Coldwell Bankers, helped to organize the event, shopped for the products and prepared the beautiful bags in honor of her Grandmother, Gerry DeMeo, who won her battle with breast cancer ten years ago. Sam’s Club and Costco also provided a gift card for us to purchase products to include in the bags. Eat N’ Park provided a discount to purchase heart shaped cookies for the bag, which also included Valentine merchandise of socks, mugs, note pads, ornaments, nail file, hand sanitizer, lotion, bath gel, pens, lip balm, mints, stuffed animal, protein bars, and a heart shaped box of chocolates. All of the patients were very grateful for the extra attention they received during their doctor visits and treatments on Valentine’s Day! BLESSING BAGS I want to thank everyone who was so generous to donate money, socks and toiletries for our Blessing Bags. These are used for the homeless veterans, low income seniors and St Joseph House of Hospitality for men. This is an ongoing project so let’s keep this going especially since cold weather will be upon us soon. Aside from the other items we collect we can also use knitted hats and gloves. These are some of the items I pack in the Blessing Bags soap, shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, comb ,brush, socks, winter knit hat, winter scarf, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, cracker, cookies, protein bars, McDonald coupons for free sandwich milk and apple slices, deodorant, razor to shave, rain poncho…etc. Packed carefully in a 1 gallon ziplock bag. I carry a few in my car in case I run into someone in need for a little help. Please keep your donations coming. Thank you! Donna M. Gallagher, Member at Large