County commissioners reevaluating food bank management
Butler County commissioners will consider terminating agreements with Community Partnership, the nonprofit organization that manages the county food bank program. Commissioners may decide Wednesday, May 22 to replace Community Partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
If the commissioners approve the motions, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank would handle the county’s Emergency Food Assistance Program and the State Food Purchase Program, which are both currently handled by Community Partnership. The termination of the county’s arrangement with Community Partnership would be effective June 30, and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank would officially begin its work for the county July 1.
Community Partnership picked up the county’s food contract July 1, 2022, for a two-year period, said Sandy Curry, director of Community Partnership.
Curry said even if the nonprofit loses its agreements with Butler County, the agency is “not going anywhere.”
“We’re not going to stop supporting the food pantries,” Curry said. “We are not leaving the anti-poverty work in Butler County. We have been selected by Pennsylvania to serve as a voice of the poor in Butler County, and that is not a voice that is going away.”
Charlese McKinney, chief program officer for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, said Tuesday clients of the food banks served by the county food programs will not be adversely impacted by the transition. The food bank already has similar contracts with three other counties in its 11-county service area, so the agency is familiar with how county food contracts work, McKinney said.
“Should we be awarded the contract, we are well prepared for the transition,” McKinney said. “We have experience with these very specific contracts in our service area. We have a long history with the purchase program and the emergency food assistance program.”
Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, said the county alerted Community Partnership about the vote ahead of time, as the nonprofit’s contract was coming to its end.
The contractor submits invoices to the county for services rendered, and the county pays through state and federal money it has been allocated, according to Osche.
According to the county commissioners’ agenda, details regarding allocation are not yet finalized.
Osche said the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has offerings that could benefit the 33 food pantries served by the county food bank program.
“They might provide more options and choices because of their size and possibly even deliver the food as opposed to them coming to get it,” Osche said. “They do have the know-how and the means of reporting to streamline and clarify numbers. Those are all considerations.”
