GIFT and Giving Kitchen join forces to provide free holiday meals to local seniors
Students from area universities will distribute the meals at senior residences
Seniors across Pittsburgh will be treated to a home-delivered Thanksgiving-themed meal and gift kit as two nonprofits partner to make their holiday memorable.
Our Giving Kitchen Pittsburgh and GIFT (Giving It Forward Together) are collaborating on the preparation and delivery of 300 kosher dinners plus festive bags filled with adult coloring books, playing cards and other fun items to the city’s elderly.
Volunteers are gathering at the Giving Kitchen in Squirrel Hill this week to cook and package the meals, and students from area universities will distribute them at senior residences in Squirrel Hill, Homewood and other neighborhoods.
GIFT is sponsoring the meals and its “student ambassadors” are assembling the kits.
Because the organizations share a mission — bringing people together to perform good deeds — the pairing is “the perfect shidduch,” said Rochel Tombosky, who founded GIFT nearly a decade ago.
“We’re very excited about it. It’s a great alignment.”
For Rabbi Chezky Rosenfeld, who started Giving Kitchen with his wife, Bassie Rosenfeld, the Thanksgiving project is an opportunity to double the groups’ impact in the community.
“We are honored to partner with a highly successful program,” he said. “Bringing in more volunteers and using GIFT’s network of recipients will enable us to have a greater reach.”
Both organizations are privately funded.
Giving Kitchen has served thousands of “grab-and-go” meals since opening its doors on Murray Avenue three years ago to address food insufficiency, primarily among Jews. The cooking is done by volunteers in twice-weekly shifts, and the meals are available by the honor system.
“We fill our fridges and freezers and leave our door open so anyone can come in and take a meal, no need to show proof of income…no questions asked,” Bassie Rosenfeld said. “We are helping people struggling with food insecurity in a way that enables them to retain their dignity.”
Volunteers bond as they peel carrots, chop onions and roll cookie dough, she added. “We draw volunteers of all religions and races. They come in groups and as individuals from as far away as Butler, and have ranged in age from three to 90.”
Volunteer slots max out at 30 and fill up quickly, and production occurs in well-choreographed sessions, Bassie Rosenfeld said.
“It’s a fast-paced, efficient assembly line.”
The seniors’ Thanksgiving menu includes sliced turkey breast in puff pastry, mashed potatoes, green beans and pumpkin cookies packed in microwavable containers and then frozen.
“Like all of our meals, they are nutritionally balanced with a carb, a protein and a dessert,” Chezky Rosenfeld said.. “They are filling and delicious.”
The GIFT kits nourish in other ways.
“For seniors who may be isolated it’s about more than receiving food,” Tombosky said. “When they get a kit they feel like they are getting a hug from the community. They’ve expressed this to me. It makes them feel seen.”
Many seniors who have dedicated their lives to others have entered a chapter where that is no longer possible, she said. “Now it’s their time to receive. Some have said our kit is the first time someone is giving back to them.”
Tombosky is a former home health agency owner who saw first-hand the need for a nondenominational program that would integrate the elderly with the broader community while fostering compassion in young people.
Besides providing kits and meals for key holidays, GIFT enables student volunteers to join with seniors on a monthly basis in projects for charities ranging from food and diaper banks to Growing Hope and Girls on the Run.
“You can feel the love in the room at these get-togethers. It’s palpable,” Tombosky said. “We did a project where one nonprofit we work with needed stickers to be put on condom packages. There was a lot of laughter and jokes that day, but some serious conversations as well.
“It’s exquisitely magical what can happen at these get-togethers, where young people feel completely comfortable discussing things with seniors they wouldn’t with anyone else.”
In another project, student volunteers and seniors at Forward-Shady Apartments in Squirrel Hill planted seedlings that eventually were transferred to a greenhouse run by Repair the World.
Allie Mitchell, 25, of Canonsburg, is part of a cohort of student ambassadors from Chatham University.
She is earning her doctorate in physical therapy and plans to specialize in geriatric care.
“I’d been leaning toward geriatrics and GIFT has helped me to continue down that path,” Mitchell said. “When I first heard about the program six months ago, I was excited about it. I’ve learned so much since then.”
Intergenerational connections “remind seniors that that they have much to share and can live full lives,” and enables young people to benefit from their wisdom.
Musya Presman, executive assistant to Tombosky, called GIFT “transformational” for young volunteers.
“It allows them the opportunity for leadership, and to have the sort of impact that would otherwise be unavailable to them.”
Retirees David Korman, 71, and his wife Amy, 72, of Squirrel Hill, volunteer for both GIFT and Giving Kitchen.
“It’s good to be of service,” said David Korman, who worked as an attorney and taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “My wife and I have been blessed in so many ways it’s only fair that we share. People think of tzedakah as charity, but it’s really an obligation…to take care of fellow citizens in the neighborhood.”
As regulars on the Sunday food assembly line, the couple has made friends of diverse faiths, ethnicities and abilities, Korman said, noting that it can be both a learning and social experience.
“It’s fascinating to talk to people. Some will ask us questions about Judaism, and we’ll learn about their religions, too,” he said.
The opportunity to volunteer is “an honor,” Korman added. “I’m confident that everyone would agree we get more out of it than we deliver.” PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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