Sewickley Martial Arts Academy food drive nets food, other items for local food pantries
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Sewickley Martial Arts Academy students and staff collected about 250 pounds of food, paper and cleaning products for local food pantries in the school’s inaugural food drive.
The collection was from Dec. 5-18 with all donations dropped off at the academy, 201 Ohio River Blvd.
Items were recently distributed to the Sewickley Community Center’s food pantry and the Coraopolis Community Development Corp. food pantry.
Coraopolis got more than 70 pounds of food and more than 40 pounds of paper/cleaning products, while Sewickley got 140 pounds of paper/cleaning products, according to an email from the academy.
“Most of the school’s students are from Quaker Valley and The West Hills,” said Master Josée Girard, 6th degree black belt and owner of the school. “And the instructional staff felt that giving back to these communities would be the right thing to do this holiday season.
“Once we agreed on creating the food drive, the instructors really took charge by spreading the word to students and their families, creating fliers, writing emails and actively encouraging anyone who visited the school to donate as much as they could.”
SCC volunteer and board member Miriam Rader said her pantry had received a lot of food from a Quaker Valley Middle School food drive prior to the academy’s efforts, but was in more need of the other items.
“They loaded up with all the supplies that we try to routinely give out like soaps, laundry soap, toiletries, paper products,” Rader said. “It was phenomenal.”
Rader thanked the academy for its contribution and touted the drive’s educational opportunities for the students.
“It’s like a win-win because the kids learn about foods,” she said.
The Sewickley food pantry is open from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 15 Chadwick St.
About a dozen families are helped at each distribution. People need to bring proof of Quaker Valley area residency. No income information is necessary.
Academy instructor Jon Radermacher said all the food and other items went to Coraopolis.
“I was very impressed on two fronts; how quickly and generously the families at our school responded and the ‘all hands on deck’ spirit among the instructors,” Radermacher said. “While some instructors work with each other regularly, others don’t. But all of us worked together in concert to plan and execute this in a very short time frame. We do plan to do it again next year.”
The Coraopolis food pantry is open from noon to 2 p.m. the first and third Sundays of August through December at 1108 Fourth Ave.
More information about its program is available at coraopolisfoundation.org/food-pantry.
More information about the Sewickley food pantry is available at sewickleycommunitycenter.com/local-food-pantry.
More information about Sewickley Martial Arts Academy is available at sewickleymartialarts.com.