South Hills Interfaith Ministries: Working Together

Pittsburgh Gives Day of Giving (#PGDOG) is almost here. Have you picked a non-profit to support yet?

“Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi and the minister?”

They all got together to make a difference.

“It really happened and that is how SHIM was born!” (when religious leaders of different faiths came together to help the community.)-Borrowed from their website

      

Please read this great story about South Hills Interfaith Community (SHIM) passed on to me from their Community Relations Manager, Kate Snyder. SHIM is a participating non-profit in the 3rd annual Day of Giving being held on October 4, 2011.

Paying It Forward…Twenty Years Later

When Mary Kay Davis, Principal of Washington Elementary School in Mt. Lebanon, heard about South Hills Interfaith Ministries’ emergency Fall Food Drive, she didn’t hesitate to organize a drive at her school.  “Our families are always eager to engage in community service projects,” she said.

But Mary Kay has a personal history with SHIM, as well – a connection stretching back more than twenty years to a time when her family used SHIM’s Food Pantry.

Mary Kay’s father worked in middle management for Westinghouse Electric.  During the 1980s, the company went through a period of layoffs and his department was cut.  The family turned to SHIM for help making ends meet while he was unemployed.

Mary Kay, an elementary student at the time, remembers coming to the SHIM food pantry and helping her mother pick out food.  “My sister and I were each given our own little bag to pick out things we wanted,” she remembers.  “We always picked the canned goods without labels because we thought it would be fun to have a Mystery Meal!”

In addition to groceries, one year the family received Christmas gifts through SHIM’s Angel Emporium program.  The experience of coming to SHIM made an impression on Mary Kay.  She has continued to support the organization through the years and now encourages her students to do the same.

Will you support the organization too?

SHIM’s goal of providing assistance to those in need by a religious community that is prepared to serve means that because your #PGDOG donations will be matched by a percentage of a match fund, more people will be empowered to pay it forward.

You’ll find this line tagged at the end of my email: “Things work when we work together.”

SHIM’s beginnings are built on all faith communities working together. They offer more than just the food pantry described above. Youth programs, utility cost assistance(Dollar Energy Fund), coats and clothing, school supplies and bookbags for students and more. Find out how your PGDOG donation can make an impact for South Hills Interfaith Ministries!

 

And here’s the line you thought I forgot to tag at the end. Update: 10/11/11 from the  @SHIMpgh tweet to me

Simply Put- “@mcb1219 — thanks again for helping promote SHIM for #pgdog. Last year: $1,500. This year: $13,000. #omg” And from me to the readers- thank you for listening; thank you for donating!

Anti-Hunger Activist Tony Hall to Speak in Pittsburgh

By now, many of you know how much I admire and respect Joyce Rothermel, co-founder and former CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.  Adam MacGregor of Just Harvest has provided this press release outlining an event with speaker and advocate Tony Hall, Executive Director of The Alliance to End Hunger and former Congressman (OH). Both Tony Hall and Joyce Rothermel will be honored at the event.

We are just inside a week away from Pittsburgh Gives Day of Giving on 10/4.  I’m also nearing my one year anniversary as a blogger. My first post? All about the wonderful response of ‘Burghers and beyond for the 2010 Day of Giving. I’m doing a post each day until the #PGDOG event with news like this to let you know of organizations out there that need your donations.

Consider donating to

Just Harvest Education Fund for #PGDOG

and to

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

Read for information on the upcoming event:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

 

World-Renowned Anti-Hunger Activist, Former U.S. Congressman

Tony Hall to Speak Oct. 4 at Just Harvest Fundraising Dinner

Founding CEO of Pittsburgh Food Bank Joyce Rothermel also to be Honored

 

The “City of Champions” will host a pair of champions of a different sort this Tuesday, as South side-based anti-hunger organization Just Harvest honors two dedicated leaders in the fight against hunger here and abroad.

 

Tony Hall (former U.S. Congressman from Ohio and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies on Food and Agriculture) and Joyce Rothermel (recently retired CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank) will be the distinguished guests at Just Harvest’s 23rd Annual Harvest Celebration Dinner on Tuesday, October 4.  

 

The event will take place at the Omni William Penn Hotel’s 17th Floor ballroom, 530 William Penn Place, Downtown.  A VIP reception at 5:30 p.m. will kick off the event, with the dinner and program slated to start at 7:00.  Mr. Hall will offer the keynote address (titled “Overcoming Hunger: A Renewed Commitment”), and Ms. Rothermel will be presented with Just Harvest’s “Seeds of Justice” award for 2011.

 

A founding member of Just Harvest’s Board of Directors, a co-founder of the Food Bank, and a Board President of the Hunger Action Coalition (from which both these organizations resulted) Ms. Rothermel has played an integral role in our community’s anti-hunger movement for more than 30 years.

 

Mr. Hall is a lifelong anti-hunger activist whose work has taken him far beyond his Ohio home district.  From 2002 through 2006, he served as President George W. Bush’s Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture.  Over his earlier tenure as chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger, he visited over 100 hunger-stricken countries, and even fasted in protest for 22 days when the committee was dissolved in 1993.  Mr. Hall wrote about these experiences in his 2007 book, Changing the Face of Hunger: One Man’s Story of How Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, and People of Faith Are Joining Forces to Help the Hungry, the Poor, and the Oppressed, which presents the policy response to chronic hunger as a solidly nonpartisan issue. 
Mr. Hall’s anti-hunger advocacy is guided by his own committed faith, and he has written from that perspective frequently in support of both domestic and international anti-hunger policies.  He currently serves as Director of the Washington D.C.-based Alliance to End Hunger.

 

“Tony and Joyce are true champions for poor and hungry people – locally, nationally, and worldwide – and the honor is truly ours to host them at this year’s dinner,” said Just Harvest Co-Director Tara Marks.

 

Charles Showalter, host of the Union Edge Talk Radio show will serve as this year’s master of ceremonies.  For more information or to purchase tickets, call 412-431-8960 or visit www.justharvest.org.

 

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I’d love to hear from anyone who plans on attending this event.

Simply Put- With the Just Harvest fundraiser and Pittsburgh Gives Day of Giving, October 4th will be a great day to show the world how we take care of each other.