In partnership with United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Parkhurst helped to provide 57,000 holiday meals, lunches, and weekend food packs in time for Thanksgiving.
The initiative is funded by the Students and Families Food Relief Fund, which began early in the pandemic with funding from the PNC Foundation, and has evolved into a team effort along with many other Pittsburgh neighbors.
Since March, more than 581,000 meals have been distributed across southwestern Pennsylvania as a result of this innovative collaboration between caring community agencies and local businesses. Parkhurst has been a key partner in this program, regularly preparing meals for families who relied upon breakfast and lunch programs typically provided by schools.
Brooks Broadhurst, of Parkhurst parent company Eat’n Park Hospitality Group and a United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania board member, says the United Way has worked to meet an increasing need for meals since the pandemic started. “We spiked very early in the spring,” he said. “Summertime settled down a little bit, now recently we’ve been having many calls coming in.”
The group expanded its efforts in response to community needs related to holiday meals. In addition to the lunches and weekend food packs, Thanksgiving meal packs fed 6 people and, in total, 5,168 were made over three days. That means 7,560 pounds of turkey, 6,620 pounds of mashed potatoes, and 1,266 gallons of gravy!
Parkhurst is proud to have been part of this team effort since its inception and remains passionate about finding innovative ways to feed families in need.