Why tote bags for food pantries?

It all came together in July 2009.  I had volunteered to drive clients out to a monthly food distribution at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne.  The trip had proven popular enough to warrant two vans each month. 

After everyone was settled in line, I started to notice fine details such as the fact that the vast majority came prepared -- suitcases, coolers on wheels, backpacks for everyone including the children and so forth with "grocery bags" designed for a bulky food distribution. It made me feel infinitely worse for the "new to the food pantry" folks who brought nothing. 

Local retailers had donated some plastic and paper bags which was generous, but they weren't quite up to the task of transporting largish items --- especially if you relied on public transportation or even walked down one of Duquesne's many hills. 

I watched someone scrambling around to pick up cabbage after the bag broke twice.  While someone assisted him, I tossed my thought out into the twitterverse ... why not donate our extra tote bags to the food bank so people could have a bit more dignity and transport their items more efficiently. 

I was surprised to get a response from The Pittsburgh Foundation who asked for my address so they could send some tote bags to the organization where I worked.

The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project was born. 

I quickly learned that people "got" this connection because we have all had a bag of groceries split in the middle of the store.  And it was an easy tie in to food drives.

I made contact with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank who signed on to the project and we began a few trials.  My organization had both a small food pantry and clients who used other pantries, so we always had plenty of need for bags.  As soft starts go, it was successful.  My largest donation was from the 2009 NetRoots Nation conference at the David Lawrence Convention Center -- they gave us hundreds of extra tote bags. 

Clearly, this was a workable idea, a hook for individuals and corporations and a never-ending need to tackle hunger in Pittsburgh. 

So fast forward two years.  I have a few drives under my belt, including the bags my friends donated in honor of my 40th birthday.  The Food Bank is an eager partner and I've recruited some talented folks to lend their energies. 

More news will be coming forth this week.  If you have tote bags to donate, please get in touch with:

tote4pgh@gmail.com
@tote4pgh