Carol McCaskey spent close to 40 years teaching elementary students. She knows what it’s like to see children go hungry.
When McCaskey’s career first began, schools didn’t offer breakfast to students. She said students would come to school with stomachaches on Monday mornings because they didn’t have anything to eat at home over the weekend.
“We’d give them juice and crackers for them to be able to wait until lunchtime,” McCaskey said.
It was for that reason McCaskey decided to spend her retirement volunteering with the West Deer Food Bank, which provides food and other necessities to about 30 township residents twice a month.
“I wanted to make sure these kids have food,” said McCaskey, food bank co-chair. “Many of them, when they go home, they don’t know whether there’s going to be food on the table or not. And it’s not their fault. And many times it’s not the parents fault, either.”
The food bank has been around for about 40 years. It’s housed in the garage of East Union Presbyterian Church at 292 East Union Road.
It’s open the first and third Wednesday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon.
Everything is free.
It didn’t close during the pandemic because people depend on it, McCaskey said. But changes were made to ensure the safety of the clients and volunteers.
“This is when people need us the most,” McCaskey said.
Clients are no longer allowed in the food bank. When they come, volunteers put food in their cars for them.
If clients don’t have a car, McCaskey will make home deliveries. If clients can’t come when the food bank is normally open, McCaskey will make time in her schedule to accommodate them.
Clients get canned and non-perishable foods such as vegetables, fruits, tuna, stew, cereal, pancakes and syrup; meats and eggs; toiletries and households products such as laundry soap, detergent and tissues.
They also get $25 gift cards to Shop ‘n Save because the food bank doesn’t have enough room to store bulk perishable items. It only has one refrigerator and two freezers.
“They get a wide variety of stuff,” McCaskey said.
The food bank has about four or five volunteers. It buys food from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and receives donations from the community.
“West Deer Township, Deer Lakes School District are known for being very compassionate for programs out here,” McCaskey said.
In addition to volunteering at the food bank, McCaskey manages a backpack food program for Deer Lakes School District students and a meal delivery service for seniors. Both have continued on through the coronavirus.
The backpack program began in 2013 and provides weekend meals for students.
Because of the pandemic, the district started offering to-go meals for students and other children in the community. McCaskey’s meals are now distributed with those.
Deer Lakes Food Service Director Jacob Douglas said he and McCaskey have been working closely throughout the pandemic.
“(She) has done an absolutely fantastic job in all that she does,” Douglas said. “The quantity and quality of food items she provides is sustainable and nutritious as well as appetizing.
“She truly supports so many individuals and is a strong pillar within this community,” he said. “I am happy to continue working with her as we all navigate through these tough times.”
McCaskey started the meal delivery service for seniors after the township’s Meals-on-Wheels program shut down. McCaskey said there weren’t enough clients to be able to pay for a cook and associated food costs for the program.
She got the idea as she was passing by Starr Road Mushroom Market in Russellton one day. She saw an advertisement for “hot meals” and went inside to ask if the market would be interested in a partnership. Clients of that program pay for the meals.
“I said, ‘If we deliver the food, will you make it?’” McCaskey said. “So that’s what we’ve been doing for the last nine years.”
