Food Podcast: Pittsburgh food bank celebrating 40 years of helping others

Tribune-Review | Tuesday, December 22, 2020 5:37 p.m.

Courtesy of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

Food Bank Operations Director Gail Robbins at a pantry in McKeesport in 1985.

In June 1980, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank opened its doors in the Hill District. The once-thriving steel industry, which had been in a slow, steady decline for nearly 30 years, began to rapidly deteriorate during the early 1980s. In January 1983, the region’s unemployment rate hit 18.2 percent, leaving 212,000 people unemployed and in need of emergency food assistance.

This week on the Food Podcast presented by Clearview Federal Credit Union, host Brian Gulish looks back on the history of the food bank, including an in-depth interview with operations director Gail Robbins. Robbins has been an employee of the food bank for 38½ years.

“I worked as a social worker for about three years with a woman that left her job to come to the food bank to be the general manager,” said Robbins. “About six months later, I quit my job as a social worker and needed something to do. She gave me a call and said she needed some clerical help 20 hours a week and I snatched it up.”

Since then, Robbins worked her way up through the organization, eventually becoming operations director.

“The fact that what I do everyday impacts and has an effect on somebody being able to eat or to not be hungry and to hopefully be able to eat healthier, that’s really what’s kept me coming back for 38 years,” she said.

“Gail is the epitome of what an ideal food banker is,” said CEO Lisa Scales. “She has committed a majority of her life helping others. As our 40-year logo says, she truly is the face of ‘neighbors helping neighbors.’ We are incredibly fortunate to have her on our team.”

Also discussed this week are the innovative ways the food bank has evolved and what the future of food banking is.

In addition to sourcing, warehousing and distributing food, the Food Bank is actively engaged in confronting issues of chronic hunger, poor nutrition and health. Work includes childhood anti-hunger initiatives, special distributions to seniors and other vulnerable populations, nutrition education, anti-hunger advocacy and capacity-building efforts throughout our agency network.

“If we really do what we are hoping to do as an organization and country, we will not have to have people standing in line waiting for food,” said Robbins.

Listen: Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank celebrates 40 years helping others