In this series, Beyond the Table, we explore the root causes of hunger across our service area, spotlight the advocates working to address those issues and share ways you can join in to help us seek long-term solutions for our communities. Together, we can go beyond the table and work toward a future where everyone has the resources they need to thrive.
Let’s continue with hunger in Armstrong County…
Food Insecurity in Armstrong County
Known for its lush landscape and beautiful trails, Armstrong County is one of the most rural counties within the Food Bank’s service area. An area is characterized as rural when it has low population density and mostly undeveloped open countryside. Food insecurity in rural counties poses a unique set of challenges in providing services. While the core issues of economic challenges and social disparities affect both rural and urban communities, they show up in different ways.
In more urban settings, residents may have access to more grocery store options, but affordability remains a major issue. Rising prices, stagnant wages and transportation limitations make it difficult for families to consistently access fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy. Rural areas often pose even greater challenges, with few full-service grocery stores and even more limited transportation making it difficult to obtain fresh, nutritious food. In fact, Feeding America estimates that “9 out of 10 counties with the highest food insecurity rates are rural” and “people of color in rural areas are more likely to face hunger due to long-term inequalities affecting food access” (Rural Hunger Facts). With 1 in 8 people in Armstrong County facing food insecurity, including 1 in 6 kids, food pantries are crucial resources to help neighbors in need.
A Community Inspired to Action
It’s not uncommon for neighbors to sometimes work several jobs to keep their families afloat and still experience food insecurity. Debe, a single mother to five children, worked three jobs at a time to support her kids. She waited tables, worked at the supermarket and even cleaned horse stalls in the evening. Money was so tight that childcare wasn’t an option. Debe often brought her kids to work with her. “It was an ongoing struggle,” she said.
One day, Debe was working at a hoagie shop in downtown Kittanning, when she saw a flood of foot traffic at a building across the street. She walked over on her break, and stumbled upon Grace Presbyterian Food Pantry, a partner of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. “The next time I came over on my break from work and I just cried the whole way through the line,” said Debe. “I thought-this is like somebody handing me a big grocery bag of food. And it was life changing to me.”
The experience was so powerful, Debe started helping out as a regular pantry volunteer.
Our work in Armstrong County
As part of our Strategic Plan, one of our main priorities is to identify and reduce gaps in food access within our service area, especially in Black and rural populations disproportionately impacted by food insecurity. In Armstrong County, we work with 40 partners including food pantries, hot meal programs and child nutrition partners to distribute food to neighbors.
To further our reach, we launched our first drive-up distribution in Armstrong County, in March 2024, where we load 50 lb. boxes of fresh produce, protein and shelf-stable items into neighbors’ cars. Through this distribution, we serve an average of 325 households per month and from March to December 2024, we distributed more than 140,000 pounds of food. While these efforts help fill the gaps, there was still more to do to lessen neighbors’ burdens.
To better help our neighbors, we had to better help our partners. We endeavored with our partners on a bold, collaborative project to address food insecurity across the county.
Collective Impact and the Armstrong Working Group
In January 2023, the Food Bank and our partners in Armstrong County established the Armstrong County Collective Impact Working Group (Working Group) whose focus is to better understand the unique needs in the county and create pathways for community-led solutions. Community leaders from diverse sectors — including health and medical fields, education, drug and alcohol organizations and partner food banks and pantries — came together to brainstorm, launch and fund solutions to increase access to food assistance. The Working Group kicked off their collaboration by reviewing existing data on county food services and demographics and sending a survey to food pantries in the county. 194 neighbors at nine food pantries responded and we learned a few important things:
- 81% of survey respondents use Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to supplement their household food budget;
- Lack of transportation and other commitments were the most significant barriers faced by those using food pantries;
- And neighbors want and need their food pantries to offer foods like meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs and milk.
Using this data, the Working Group created a plan to address the specific needs of the communities.
First, the Working Group wanted to make sure that the food pantries already doing the work to serve their communities had proper funding and equipment to continue. During its first year of inception, the Food Bank awarded $99,000 in impact grants through the Working Group to partners in Armstrong County to support their needs such as equipment. These grants were used to purchase supplies like carts and dollies, shelving, scales and cold storage such as freezers and refrigerators necessary to continue running their pantries and programs.
The Working Group also tapped into existing statewide programs such as Hunters Sharing the Harvest, where hunters can donate meat through processing shops, in response to neighbors reporting rising food costs making it difficult to buy meat. Since November 2023 partners in Armstrong County procured 11,398 pounds of ground venison through this program. Armstrong Center for Medicine and Health created recipe cards the following year to help neighbors unfamiliar with preparing venison and the Food Bank printed 2,000 copies to distribute in the pantries.
Through our partnership with Armstrong County Community Action Agency (AACAP), The Working Group expanded the PA Senior Box program Since May 2023, participation in the Senior Box program increased by more than 30%. In 2024, the group allocated $4,100 through the Collective Impact Initiative to purchase Emergency Shelf Stable Meals for 300 seniors. Each emergency food box contains enough food for three meals and was delivered to seniors in rural areas unable to leave their homes or facing transportation barriers.
New partnerships blossomed between community champions like Armstrong Center for Medicine and Health and ACCAP, resulting in an onsite-food pantry for patients facing food insecurity and referrals to other social services.
“I’ve been involved with [food access] since about 2017,” says Kay Owen, volunteer food bank coordinator at Grace Presbyterian Church of Kittanning. “And when this initiative started, we became aware of some many doors we didn’t even know were there. And we’ve been able to walk through doors with new ideas, data, equipment [and] connections with people.”
The Working Group has exciting plans for 2025. The Armstrong County School District aims to launch their first mobile food unit, Adagio Health plans to expand the senior farmers markets, and ACCAP is opening a resource center complete with a printable, county-wide resource guide. The Food Bank is hoping to expand the Senior Food Box program in the county and the Working Group has established four subcommittees focused on local sourcing and food recovery, senior nutrition, Hunters Sharing the Harvest and summer food programs.
How You Can Help
There are many ways to get involved with our work in Armstrong County. You can get involved with the Food Bank in three simple ways:
- Advocating for anti-hunger policies with your local and state officials that help neighbors facing food insecurity. Start by signing up for our Advocacy Newsletter to receive timely alerts on current actions and ways to alleviate food insecurity.
- Volunteering at the Armstrong Distribution.
- Donating to support programs and operations that make our mission possible in Armstrong County. Every $1 donated to the Food Bank can help provide up to 3 meals to neighbors in need. Unlike going to the grocery store, we work directly with manufacturers, retailers, local farmers and government agencies to source foods in mass quantities (some of which would have otherwise gone to waste) for distribution.
Are you in need or want to give back to an organization in Armstrong county? Visit our Food Finder Tool and type in “Armstrong county” when prompted to enter an address or ZIP Code.