Six months ago, Walter Lewis, president and CEO of the Homewood Children’s Village, faced a serious challenge. How would his staff continue to provide academic support, mentoring, tutoring, and basic supports, like food, to elementary and high school students now that the schools were closed due to COVID-19?
We had to completely shift the way we did our work,” Lewis said. “It took a new approach. But thankfully the cultural foundation of doing what it takes to reach the kids was already here.
Staff at the Homewood Children’s Village began with phone calls to every family of youth they had been supporting in the schools. “Our first step was to find out how everyone was doing,” Lewis said. “Did they have enough food? Did they have internet access? How were they getting information about staying safe?”
In the early weeks, Homewood Children’s Village staff, or student advocates, called the families of each of the youth in its service load to get a sense of the level of need and specifics on access to the internet for information. Based on those contacts, Homewood Children’s Village and their partner organization, Bible Center Church, created a system for door-to-door food delivery that has delivered 66,828 meals to 453 youth as of August 31, 2020.
“Food access has been a challenge in our community for quite some time,” Lewis said. “During the school year, students can depend on breakfast and lunch each day. But with the schools shutting down, many of our families would have struggled.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit those on the edge of food security hard. According to a RAND survey conducted during the COVID-19 quarantine, 67.5% of households with children reported food insecurity.
“We started out with basic needs and a focus on food with our deliveries,” Lewis said. “We have been able to provide produce boxes as well as youth breakfasts and lunches. Then we expanded to delivering diapers, student computers, and school supplies for parents homeschooling their kids.”
At the end of August, Homewood Children’s Village and Bible Center Church had distributed more than 2,160 boxes of produce, 806 packs of diapers, 276 packs of wipes, 150 totes of cleaning supplies and snacks, 124 packs of K-5 school supplies, and 133 laptops to families in need. Across town from Homewood, on the Northside of Pittsburgh, Light of Life Rescue Mission tells a similar story of shifting some of its core work to meet the needs of Pittsburgh families.
“The generosity we have seen has been unprecedented when it comes to food donations,” reported Jerrel Gilliam, president of Light of Life. “In the early weeks of the quarantine, we became a hub for donations, and this increased capacity allowed us to direct food to other organizations, who in turn, gave food to families in need. We have served 69,145 meals and distributed over 203,000 pounds of food for COVID-19 relief.”
Light of Life Rescue Mission is the oldest and largest homeless shelter in the Pittsburgh region. While they have continued to provide overnight services for homeless and recovery support for those battling addiction, they have also become a partner for organizations like Homewood Children’s Village by sourcing meats, vegetables, milk, bread, and even muffins and cookies.
An unexpected outcome from the COVID-19 pandemic has been partnerships that quickly formed or transformed to meet new needs. Homewood Children’s Village linked their connection with families and delivery capabilities with long-time partner Bible Center Church’s space and staff to support packing and delivering thousands of meals provided to date. Light of Life Rescue Mission leveraged its large base of donors and ample food refrigeration capabilities. The mission has seen a 159% increase in demand for food and related services since the pandemic.
Together, these partners launched food delivery to needy families within the first week of the pandemic. Creating a delivery system has been crucial, as roughly 50% of families in Homewood rely on public buses, jitneys, or friends and family to shop for food because they do not have their own cars.
As the state began to reopen, most families reported that they were doing all right for the time being. Further, the Pittsburgh Food Bank and Monteverde’s, a Crafton, Pennsylvania-based food distributor, have become food sources for the Homewood Children’s Village and Bible Center Church partnership, while Light of Life Rescue Mission has shifted back to its core focus on homelessness and addiction.
Lewis plans to keep the safety net in place. “Homewood Children’s Village and Bible Center Church will continue through December as we listen for the District’s plans for the school year to unfold.”
Lewis also confirmed that this was a community-wide effort, with foundations also playing their roles. The Pittsburgh Foundation, Hillman Foundation, and Richard King Mellon Foundation COVID-19 response funds supported their efforts, while many foundation partners such as the Heinz Endowments and the United Way relaxed the restrictions on the grants awarded to Homewood Children’s Village. “This allowed us to be more flexible with the use of those dollars to meet the needs of the community,” he said.
As they move into the last quarter of 2020 and plan for 2021, Lewis said Homewood Children’s Village will continue to do the important work they’ve always done, just in a different way.
“While much of the plan remains relevant and as critical as ever, the way that we execute the plan has changed and will continue to evolve as we respond to the pre-existing and emerging needs of our community in this new context,” he said. “[COVID-19] has made much of our work more essential than ever.”
Hear from Shannah Tharp-Gilliam, PhD and other community-based leaders on how they’ve navigated the pandemic during Upswell October 14-16. Learn more at upswell.org.
Shannah Tharp-Gilliam, PhD is a director at Homewood Children’s Village, a nonprofit serving children and families on Pittsburgh’s east end.
