Each month, dozens of volunteers at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank take on a special task – the senior box pack. Many of these volunteers are regulars. Others are from organizations willing to lend a hand. Over six days, they’ll spend 15 hours packing 5,800 boxes of food. In this past fiscal year, volunteers packed over 1.8 million pounds of food for the PA Senior Food Box Program (PASFB).
Nationally recognized as the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), this federally funded effort supplies low-income seniors in Pennsylvania with shelf-stable food boxes each month. The content of the box is provided by the USDA; seniors enrolled in the program typically find some combination of canned fruits and vegetables, juice, beans, peanut butter, pasta, rice, meat, and shelf-stable milk. The items provided deliver a reliable supplement (like the program name suggests) to eligible seniors.
The Food Bank manages senior box distribution for six counties in southwest Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, and Somerset. Nearly 220 partner organizations – senior high-rises, community centers, food pantries, faith-based groups – work with the Food Bank’s senior box team to make sure 5,800 boxes get to the area’s most vulnerable seniors each month. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, options have been available to pick up the box from select drive-up distributions or, in select cases, delivered via DoorDash to seniors with mobility issues.
Ashley Kimball, service coordinator for UMCU Housing, works with nearly 200 seniors in two senior buildings in Allegheny County. “Many of the seniors love [the variety of food]: cereals, juice and ready-to-eat items such as peanut butter and soups. They also love the convenience of the box being delivered directly to our community.”
Kimball administers senior box programs for her two buildings. “I really like how the program is dependable and consistent. I know my seniors will have nutritious food even if they lack transportation or SNAP,” she says. “On the day the senior boxes are delivered, the whole building smells good from everyone cooking. I also like how the program is mostly hands-off and doesn’t add much to my workload. The [Food Bank’s senior box] team takes care of all the ordering and scheduling, so my only responsibility is very minimal documentation.” 
Amy Marcic, center supervisor for LifeSpan Mon Valley Active Life Center in Port Vue, finds that while the box itself is a benefit to her seniors, it also serves another purpose. “The senior box gets them out to visit us.” Marcic said the senior box acts as a catalyst to get her center’s seniors to visit at least once a month. “I get to ask them, ‘is there anything else you need from LifeSpan?’ It provides a connection that I like.”
To be eligible for the program, enrollees must be at least 60 years old and have a household income that falls below 150% of the Federal Poverty Income Guideline. (A single-person household would qualify if they earn under $23,475 annually, for instance.) Anyone who is interested in enrolling in the program – or is interested in distributing the box to people in their community – can contact the Food Bank’s senior box team can learn more by calling 412-460-3663 ext. 720 or emailing [email protected].