Summer 2013 - North Hills Community Outreach

Summer 2013
North Boroughs Site Expands
Hampton
1975 Ferguson Road
Allison Park, PA 15101
412-487-6316, option 1
Millvale
Millvale Community Center, 2nd Floor
416 Lincoln Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
412-487-6316, option 2
North Boroughs
Allegheny General Hospital,
Suburban Campus (Bellevue)
100 South Jackson Avenue, 2 South
Pittsburgh, PA 15202
412-307-0069
O’Hara
Lighthouse Pointe
500 Chapel Harbor Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
412-449-0151
Pine (Community Auto)
11490 Perry Hwy., Suite 7
Wexford, PA 15090
724-443-8300
Office Hours
Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 4 PM
(Other times by appointment only)
email: help@nhco.org
website: www.nhco.org
Mission: North Hills Community
Outreach is an interfaith organization
addressing the needs of people in crisis,
hardship and poverty.
Vision: Northern Allegheny County is a
sharing community where no one is cold,
hungry or alone.
Susan Edwards, one
of our North Boroughs
volunteer receptionists,
shows off part of the new
space in the satellite located
inside AGH Sububan in
Bellevue.
Services available from this
site include a food pantry,
utility help, rental assistance,
legal help, employment
services, long-term family
development, caregiving for
seniors and more.
“Bridgette,” a single mom, recently came to the North Boroughs office for
help. She was frightened, unemployed, and facing eviction and utility shutoffs. Bridgette enrolled in NHCO’s long-term family development program and
attended free WorkAble employment workshops. Now, she is newly employed
and working toward self-sufficiency.
We recently expanded our North Boroughs service site to help more families!
The expansion doubles our office space…now we can provide more services
and increased privacy for the struggling families who come to NHCO for help.
We changed pantry hours to include afternoons every other Thursday, making it
easier for many, including seniors and those with disabilities, to get to the pantry
during daylight hours.
Our partnership with West Penn Allegheny Health System made the
expansion possible. WPAHS rents space to NHCO for $1 per month. NHCO has
maintained a presence in Bellevue since 1997 and has been at AGH Suburban
since 2000. Last year the North Boroughs site served 1,359 families, providing
$131,193 in food, housing and utility assistance.
“North Hills Community Outreach works tirelessly to make sure those who
have fallen on difficult times have the basic resources that can help them resume
meaningful and productive lives,” said West Penn Allegheny Health System
executive Kim Sperring. “We are proud to support a program that makes such a
tremendous difference in the lives of so many people each year.”
Fay Morgan, Executive Director
fpmorgan@nhco.org
The Connector is published three times
per year and mailed to 25,000 local
addresses. You can help us save postage
and printing costs by signing up to
receive the newsletter electronically by
emailing help@nhco.org.
jlkissel@nhco.org
YOU CAN VOLUNTEER
Contact:
Volunters
Linda Robins
412-487-6316
Option 2, x3215
lkrobins@nhco.org
Information Sessions
Please join us for an overview of
volunteer opportunities. If you’d like
to volunteer but can’t attend one of
these sessions, please contact Linda.
¾¾ July 11, Millvale, 10-11am
¾¾ August 6, Community Auto, 6-7pm
¾¾ September 12, Allison Park, 6-7pm
Here are just a few of our volunteer opportunities:
Garden! Open volunteer hours, Mondays & Wednesdays, 10 am to 2
pm through September 1. Help is also needed to harvest, package and
deliver produce from the garden to NHCO pantry in Bellevue on Wednesday
afternoons. Contact Rosie at rmwise@nhco.org or 412-307-0069.
Community Auto! Car Care Workshop Instructors; Drivers (pick up
cars and/or client); Marketing (make calls and deliver fliers.) Very flexible.
Contact Liz at emedwards@nhco.org or 724-443-8300.
Faith in Action! Volunteers are needed to assemble smile bouquets
and make deliveries and short visits with NHCO care-receivers. You
We welcome volunteers of all
must be able to pick up the bouquets Monday afternoon July 22 by 4pm
abilities, interests and ages. Ellie Haas
or Tuesday morning July 23 at McCandless Floral, 8105 Perry Highway,
helps at our annual Pasta Dinner.
McCandless, PA 15237. Please contact Cathy at clpschirer@nhco.org or 412307-0069 by Tuesday July 2 if you are interested.
Open Your Heart to a Senior! Seniors in your neighborhood need a friendly, caring person who
can visit, help with light yard work, or drive them to a doctor appointment or the grocery store.
Call 412-307-0071 or visit www.openyourhearttoasenior.org. Make a difference today!
Tax Volunteers Help Workers
Save Money
For the first time, NHCO North Boroughs
office offered Free Tax Return Preparation
in cooperation with the Allegheny County
Department of Human Services. The free service
was offered for low-income workers with joint
incomes up to $40,000 or individual incomes of
up to $20,000.
An excellent team of volunteers prepared 33
federal income tax returns for workers whose
annual gross income averaged $14,092. The
federal tax rebates totaled $45,832! Thirty-nine
percent of the returns had Earned Income Tax,
totaling $20,410. Workers received at least $2,486
in state refunds (only three state returns were
prepared) and $1,700 in property tax/rent rebates.
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped
these workers receive their tax refunds!
2
Friend Raisers and Fund Raisers Forward our Mission
Mother’s Day Flower and Gift Sale
Generoasta Coffee in Warrendale has a simple mission:
Do Good. Have Fun. Drink Coffee. Generoasta raises
awareness and funds for local charitable organizations.
NHCO is honored to be an inaugural charity partner!
Generoasta hosted a flower and gift sale May 11 to benefit
NHCO’s garden. The event raised $4,240!
Thank you to the following generous donors:
Best Feeds Garden Center Diamond Market- North
Market Square
City Stems
Izzazu Salon
English Lane Nursery
La Peri Dolci
Fred and Jane Bartsch Mary Kay Cosmetics - Greenhouses
Kate Safin
Freedom Farms
My Big Fat Greek Gyro
Hahns Nursery
Nicholas Coffee
Herman J Heyl Florist
Primanti Bros.
Home Depot-Cranberry Twp. Square Cafe
McTighe’s Flower and Garden Tamari
Market
Avon – Gloria Bennett
Phelps Nursery North
BeadforLife – Kathleen Sewickley Creek Ganster
Greenhouses
Edward Marc Chocolate
Soergel Orchards
Joe Bullick –author
Sylvan Gardens Landscape
Fast Signs- Wexford
AER Photography
General Rental Center- Cranberry Twp.
Thanks to Generoasta staff and owners, and the following
volunteers: Lynne Braun-Warth, Linda Dahl, Betty Lee
Frankovich, Jeff Full, Lorraine Hoover, Eric Kofmehl,
Rebecca Lindenberger, Diana Schulties, and Dick Spahr.
Mini Masters Major Fun!
On May 16, 120 attendees joined NHCO for the 12th
annual Mini Masters Miniature Golf Tournament at the
RMU Island Sports Center, Neville Island. Special thanks
to WPXI’s Brittny McGraw for serving as the event emcee
and to Althea and Oscar Worthy, Paul Cusick, Susan
Edwards, Elaine Hatfield, Jo Stone, and Ed Dietz for their
outstanding contributions.
Thank you to our Gold Golf Sponsors PNC Bank, S&T
Bank and WesBanco. The mini-green jacket went to
Mary Sue Rozum, who had the lowest score. The Best
Team award went to Bob Leitsch, Bonnie Leitsch, Don
Marchese and Peggy Marchese.
Team Hampton represented NHCO in the Dick’s Sporting
Goods Pittsburgh Marathon 2013 and included State
Representative Hal English, left.
Sunny Marathon Sunday
NHCO had a great showing at the Dick’s Sporting
Goods Pittsburgh Marathon 2013! Gretchen Jezerc
was our high fundraiser, raising $1,550. Super Smash
Gang relay team, made up of North Allegheny High
students, placed first in the co-ed division and second
overall! Thanks to all 32 runners, who together raised
nearly $10,000!
Ranju Arya
Naomi Harless
Tom Baker
Tim Huffmyer
Harishwer Balasubramani Gretchen Jezerc
Lea Bridi
Chris Lochner
Morgan Bridi
Rachael Masterson
Nathan Brouwer
Nicholas McClure
April Brouwer
Rick McClure
Alec Christensen
Dan Meehan
Dr. Christopher Koman
Marie Palano
Caroline Cwalina
Derek Phillips
Michelle Dumoulin
David Rishel
Hal English
Alexander Russ
Chris Lochner
Karl Sanko
Michael Good
Derek Wang
Alena Greco
Melissa Wertz
Nicholas Gust
Caleb Zelanko
John Gust
Thanks to the marathon committee for planning
a successful event: April and Nathan Brouwer, Rick
McClure, Nicholas McClure, Mike Zerega, and
Erin, Karen and Patrick McMahon.
Planning for Marathon 2014 starts in the fall! If
you’d like to run or serve on our committee, contact
Linda at lkrobins@nhco.org or 412-487-6316, opt 2.
Perfect Pasta Dinner
Thanks to all who came out to enjoy pasta, desserts, and great music by Slim Forsythe during the seventh
Annual Pasta Dinner in Millvale on April 12. Big thanks to Pastor George Mendis for his leadership in the kitchen
once again, and to the 36 volunteers, including helpers from First National Bank, for ensuring our guests had fun
and left with full stomachs. The event raised more than $3,300!
3
Garden Blooming with Children’s “Rainbow” Area and Berry Patch
Kids love to play in dirt, and what better place to play than in a
garden? They can examine burrowing bugs, compare leaves of all
shapes and sizes, and witness the miracle of plants bursting forth
from tiny seeds.
So when Girl Scout Sneha Srinivasan asked permission to
create a Children’s Garden at the Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Garden in
order to obtain Scouting’s Gold Award, we said, “We’ll provide the
dirt and the kids!”
Sneha won a Yes! mini-grant for $250 through Pittsburgh Cares
and has led several groups of volunteers including North Hills
High School’s Food and Nutrition class, students from Summit
Academy, Girl Scout Troop 53238, QUEST kids from Will Allen
Foundation, and students from the University of Pittsburgh in
preparing an area where children and their parents can grow, tend Girl Scout Troop 53238 helped Sneha Srinivasan plant the
vegetables in the Children’s Garden. Sneha is teaching children
and harvest a “rainbow” of vegetables. All food grown in the garden
about the importance of growing and consuming organic food.
is distributed to local families in need through NHCO’s two food
pantries.
Thanks to Girl Scout Troop 50274, the garden also boasts a
new berry patch. The troop prepared the ground and planted
strawberries, a very popular item with our food pantry families.
Thanks also to Shell and Kohl’s for participating in workplace
work days.
Welcome to our summer part-time Youth Leaders
Alexandrea Brennan (North Allegheny High) and Maggie
Cinicola (Oakland Catholic), who will help lead additional
garden projects. Funding for these youth leaders is provided by
the Grable Foundation.
Thanks to students from North Hills High (pictured above),
Shaler Area High, and CCAC Child Development class,
and Sisters of Charity of the Nazarene, volunteers Laura
Hazelton, Joe Arnold, and the McGinnis family for growing
seedlings for our garden.
Want to have as much fun as these volunteers from Shell?
Contact Rosie at rmwise@nhco.org or 412-307-0069 to
discuss garden work days for your business or group.
4
SHARING HELPS NEIGHBORS IN NEED
Spring Share Brings Cheer to Children
Thanks to 52 wonderful volunteers, 658 local children
received cheerful Spring Share Baskets filled with toys,
candy and cookies in March. In addition, 411 families
received $10 grocery store gift cards to help make their
spring holidays a little brighter.
Big thanks to lead volunteers Jeanne Muth, Cindy
Krauth and Jeff Full, and to Mary Riethmiller, Diana
Schulties and Lorraine Hoover for their extra efforts.
Thanks to these individuals and groups that made
extra special efforts to collect and donate items: Target
- McKnight and Pine Creek; Shaler Area Elementary;
Barbara Sanford; Mary Beaber; St. Bonaventure;
and Social Security Administration - Seven Fields.
Back-to-School Items Needed
When the school bell summons students back to class,
not all children in our area will be prepared. The cost of
one or more backpacks and all the required supplies
can be a significant burden on already struggling
families.
You can help local children begin the school
year right! Through July 31, NHCO is collecting
new backpacks and school supplies to distribute
to hundreds of local children in grades K-12. Please
consider donating:
•New backpacks
•Notebooks and loose leaf paper
•Binders and pocket folders
•Pencils, pens, and colored pencils
•Pencil boxes and sharpeners
•Highlighters, markers, crayons
•Glue sticks, rulers, scissors
Donations may be dropped off at any NHCO office,
Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm, or at the NHCO Allison Park
Food Pantry on Saturday July 20, 9am-12:30pm.
Winter Coat Collection
Wish List
NHCO offices and the garden need many items!
Please see our entire wish list online at www.nhco.org.
Below are just a few of the items we need:
•10’ x10’ canopy tent
•6’ x 4’ dry erase board
•Straw! The garden uses 150+ bales a season.
•Child-sized gloves/shovels/rakes/hoes/watering cans
•Home Depot or Do It Best gift cards
•4-way brass hose splitter & rubber hoses (higher quality)
•Rotatiller
To donate to the garden, please contact Rosie
at rmwise@nhco.org or 412-307-0069.
All other donations, including financial, please contact
Cheryl at clenglish@nhco.org or 412-487-6316 opt 1.
Stay up to date on our wish list and volunteer needs:
Like us on Facebook at “North HIlls Community
Outreach,” “Open Your Heart to a Senior” and “Rosalinda
Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden.”
Follow us on Twitter @NHCOhelps, @NHCOgardens,
and @NHCOmmunityauto
Cool weather blows in soon after the school year
begins, and families come to NHCO’s Winter Coat
Shop for warm coats. Please consider donating a
new or gently worn coat and help families stay warm
this winter. Children’s and adult XL and XXL sizes are
especially needed. Due to space limitations, coat
donations are accepted during September and
October. Thank you!
For more information on Sharing Projects to
receive help or help others,
visit www.nhco.org
or contact Vicki at 412-487-6316 opt 1,
or vdburst@nhco.org.
Can’t get to NHCO during business hours?
Special Donation Times
NHCO Allison Park will be open for donations:
Saturday, July 20, 9am-12pm
Saturday, August 24, 9am-12pm
Saturday, October 5, 9am-12pm
If every household, business and civic group donated just $1 to NHCO each time they received our
newsletter, we would have another $75,000 a year to help local families in need! Think of the possibilities!
5
THUMBS UP FOR PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE
Here are just a few ways people are helping our neighbors
through the mission of NHCO. EVERY effort helps to make
northern Allegheny County a sharing community where no one
is cold, hungry or alone! Thanks to:
¾AW Beattie Career Center’s graduating class of 2013 for their
donation of $750 for our Back-to-School efforts.
¾ThinkHardDesign in Tarentum for providing graphic design
for Community Auto brochures, fliers and stickers.
¾Hance Daisy Troop #52483 of Pine Richland for delivering six
bags of groceries. Young Brother’s Tae Kwon Do of Gibsonia
invited the troop to participate in a class to earn their petals for
“Respect Myself & Others” and asked the Daisies to collect food
in lieu of paying for the class.
¾Bethlehem Lutheran’s “Bethlehem Band” for holding a
concert at a Lenten service and raising $231.
¾Alex Audia of State Farm Insurance in Mars and Alan
Davidson of Liberty Mutual Insurance in Wexford for helping
educate Community Auto buyers about car insurance.
¾Greater Pittsburgh Automobile Association for making
Community Auto an associate member and throwing its
support behind our mission.
¾Girl Scout Troop Alpha 264 for donating $1,170 raised at
their Mother-Daughter dinner.
¾Trader Horn of Wexford for donating six beautiful baskets of
flowers for the flower boxes at our Allison Park site.
¾Thanks to all who supported our “Dinner and Mark Twain”
benefit: corporate sponsors Dollar Bank and Mars National
Bank; Strictly Business Catering; St. Paul’s UMC for providing
the venue; Herman J Heyl for flowers and Jones Creations for
table linens.
Volunteers Dylan McKinney and Lorraine Hoover served
up penne at the Millvale Pasta Dinner in April.
Students Read to Raise Funds
Students at Shaler Area Elementary raised $1,255
for North Hills Community Outreach by reading
books in an afterschool program called “Words that
Serve.” All students were already required to read 25
books throughout the school year. Words that Serve,
created by Americorps volunteers Mark Mays,
Melanie Egnacheski, and Lauren Kruszewski,
encouraged students to read, with the added benefit
of learning the power of helping others.
During a 23-day period, 34 students collected
pledges for each 1,000 words read. Together, they
read 2,866,039 words!
¾Pasquale’s Pizza on Ferguson Road for donating 10 $25 gift
cards for families in need to use for food and 20 pizza gift cards
for “Dinner and Mark Twain.”
¾Volunteers Jim Block, John Carroll, Robert Plut, Todd
Morrow, Tom Jones, Dennis Buirge and Allison Buirge for
painting the new North Boroughs space and moving furniture
in. Thanks to Westmorland Supply for a big discount on paint!
¾Google for donating 64 SmartPhones for use in disaster relief.
Let’s hope we don’t need them!
¾All who donated to our Groupon Grassroots campaign, which
raised more than $1,250 for organic mulch for the garden’s fruit
trees.
¾Faculty and staff at Franklin Elemenary for donating $185
raised during Jeans Days.
6
Coyne McDermott collected a cart full of groceries for
his 12th birthday. This is the third year Coyne has donated to
NHCO in lieu of receiving birthday gifts.
HELPING FAMILIES BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT
Cars Needed Now for Working Families!
Career Fair a Success
The WorkAble Career Fair in Millvale on May 22
attracted 97 job seekers! Thanks to our WorkAble
partners, Jewish Family & Children’s Services and
South Hills Interfaith Ministries, who helped to recruit
employers and promote the fair.
Thanks very much to employers UPMC, Goodwill,
Giant Eagle, PNC, University of Pittsburgh, and
Asko Inc. for providing this great opportunity for so
many workers eager to improve their employment
situations! WorkAble is a free employment counseling
and job coaching program available to Allegheny
County residents. It helps unemployed adults find and
keep income-adequate jobs. Unemployed adults are
connected with a professional career counselor who
assesses their skills, employment needs, and barriers to
employment.
Volunteer employment coaches provide support and
one-on-one training for resume writing, job searching,
interview skills and more.
We are grateful to the United Way of Allegheny
County for funding the WorkAble program.
For employment help, call 412-904-5993. To volunteer,
call 412-487-6316 option 2.
“Marie,” a single mother of a child with a disability, struggles
to make ends meet and to walk to the bus stop with her son.
She has had to turn down offers for better jobs because they
require a car. When her son asks her why they don’t have a
car, she tells him, “God will bless us with one someday, and
until then He has blessed us with legs.”
At least 25 families are ready right now to purchase a
vehicle from Community Auto. Many more individuals call
each week hoping to buy a car that will change their lives.
But Community Auto needs cars!
Community Auto accepts donated vehicles, has them
repaired, and sells them at below market value to local
families who need a car to get to work. Vehicles come
with a valid, new PA inspection sticker, one-year AAA+
membership, six-month warranty, new cars seats if needed,
and post sale advice on maintenance and repairs.
Family Development Program Helps
Local Mom and Girls
“Jenna” is the mother of two daughters, ages 5 and 6.
The five-year-old has a seizure disorder. Jenna came to
NHCO with no job, no child support, no food stamps, no
food in the house and utility problems. Jenna and the girls
received food and participated in our seasonal sharing
projects, including Back to School.
Jenna’s circumstances made her a candidate for
NHCO’s Family Development program, to receive intense
support, help with goal-setting and step-by-step guidance
in removing barriers and moving toward economic
self-sufficiency.
Since coming to NHCO, Jenna has made great strides
toward becoming financially stable. She began working
part-time, is saving money and is receiving court-ordered
child support from her daughter’s father. NHCO helped
Jenna apply for utility assistance grants, food stamps and
SSI for her five-year-old.
NHCO will continue to provide Jenna with guidance on a
career, budgeting and planning for the family’s future until
she reaches self-sufficiency. NHCO’s Family Development
program is funded in part by the PA Department of
Community and Economic Development.
Many families all over Allegheny County are waiting to
purchase a car that will help put them on the road to success,
like Tia, who purchased her car this spring.
Can you display Community Auto fliers
in your place of business?
We will provide the fliers and holders!
Please contact Community Auto
at 724-443-8300
or visit www.communityauto.org.
Donate a car. Change a life!
7
NORTH HILLS COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Pittsburgh, PA
Permit #952
1975 Ferguson Road
Allison Park, PA 15101-3235
My Neighbors Can Count on Me!
Name__________________________________________________
Address________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Email__________________________________________________
Phone (in case of questions)________________________________
Gift Amount/Payment Method
 $25  $50  $100  $250  Other $___________________
 Check enclosed.
#__________________________________

Expires________________ 3-digit security code_______________
Signature______________________________________________
You can also make a secure donation at www.nhco.org
Optional
 Save postage! Please don’t send a thank you letter.
 My employer will match this gift; my form is enclosed.
 I wish to remain anonymous.
 Please contact me about volunteering.
 Please contact me about including NHCO in my will.
 This is a commemorative gift:
 in honor of  in memory of  in thanksgiving for
__________________________________________________
Please notify about my commemorative gift:
Name_____________________________________________
Address___________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Free Home Safety Checks for Seniors
“Bella,” 78, loves to garden and tend her strawberry patch.
On summer Saturdays, she picks the fruits and bakes pies for
her church’s bake sale. As the years go by, it’s getting harder
to move around her big house. Rugs trip her, and it’s hard
to stand up in the shower. Bella wants to stay in her Avalon
home, where she can garden in the summer and bake bread
on cold winter days.
Safety for Seniors can help. Trained Safety for Seniors
volunteers with Open Your Heart to a Senior conduct a
brief but thorough FREE home safety assessment using
a written checklist, making recommendations for family
members to adjust/remove potential hazards.
Volunteers install smoke alarms (if needed) and leave
seniors with a bag of safety
items, like a flashlight and
fresh batteries, a bath mat,
a night light and other
helpful items. After the
check has been completed,
seniors qualify for either a
free grab bar or an indoor
railing, installed at no
charge.
To schedule a free safety
assessment, or to become
a trained Safety for Seniors
inspector, please contact
Cathy at clpschirer@nhco.org or 412-307-0069.
OR email__________________________________________
NHCO is an IRS-approved 501(c)3 organization.
Your donation qualifies as a charitable deduction.
Please mail to:
NHCO, 1975 Ferguson Road, Allison Park, PA 15101
S13NEWS
Open Your Heart to a Senior
www.openyourhearttoasenior.org
Call 2-1-1 or 412-307-0071
A program of United Way of Allegheny County