Beaver County Partnership Meeting August 15, 2011 Community ...

Beaver County Partnership Meeting
August 15, 2011
Community College of Beaver County
Attendees:
• Marnie Schilken, Gateway Health Plan
• Susan Pawkovich, HACB
• Lori Vallecorsa, Adagio Health/WIC
• Victor Colonna, BCCAN
• Rebecca Salopek, HACP
• Donna Piccirilli, Beaver Falls Salvation Army
• Melody Logoyda, Alliance for Consumer Protection
• Sherri Graeser, Beaver County Assistance Office
• Sue Dunlap, CCBC
• Elizabeth Focer, Columbia Gas
• Susan Capel, BC Launch
• James Dean, Refreshing Springs Ministries
• Cindy Matthews, Representative Matzie’s Office
• Karen Deichert, Community College of Beaver County
• Kristen Lee, HPRP
• Major Richard Lyle, Beaver County Salvation Army
• Christy Miles, HPRP
• Bruce Simmeth, United Way of Beaver County
• Sue Smith, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
• Christina Winniewicz, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
• Janet Elder, Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership
• James Harrell, Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership
• Kim Dodson, Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership
I. Janet Elder introduced:
• Karen Deichert from Beaver County Community College’s Workforce
Development Office. Shared that the college was pleased to host the meeting and
was looking forward to collaborating with the efforts to address food insecurity in
the county.
• Bruce Simmeth from United Way. Mr. Simmeth welcomed the group and spoke.
He stated that there is a real need in Beaver County for emergency food stamps
and food distribution programs. The United Way is advocating for these
programs. They are trying to maintain the funding because it is difficult to get an
increase at this time.
• Major Lyle from the Beaver County Salvation Army. He stated that he is
encouraged seeing so many organizations present and knowing that none of us
were alone in the quest to end hunger.

• Janet Elder spoke about the Partnership.
o Since 2008, each month, 2400 more people are served by the Greater
Pittsburgh Community Food Bank than the previous month.
o The partnership is not a new program. It is a way of getting people/agencies
to work together to get people the food that they need.
o Families that are new to needing food assistance are embarrassed and don’t
often know what to do to get the food they need. If people at one agency can
direct them to another agency for food assistance, then the process becomes
easier for the recipient.
• Partners introduced themselves.
II. Review Objectives of the Comprehensive Plan for Food Security
• Janet Elder pointed out that participation in the Partnership is not a new task for
people/agencies to take on. It goes hand in hand with what people/agencies are
already doing.
• Janet Elder emphasized an article she had emailed participants on collective
impact—a group of important actors from diverse groups focusing on a specific
topic and strategically working toward a goal.
• Scorecard emphasized.
III. Review Discussion from June 2 Kickoff Meeting
• Focus on Comprehensive Plan Objective 1—Increase the access of individuals
and families to food and nutrition assistance that they are eligible for but not
utilizing;
IV. Looking at scorecard, what programs/initiatives should be the focus of the next year’s
activities?
• Look at utilization; look at things you can do to make things happen more swiftly
– low-hanging fruit.
• Someone asked: Is there a particular number that we are trying to hit as a group?
Is 100% utilization the goal? If everyone participates will it overwhelm the
programs?
• There is not a target number, but an overall goal to reduce hunger by increasing
access to available programs.
o Janet pointed out that some programs may be overwhelmed (food banks and
pantries) but the majority are entitlement programs and if people qualify, then
they will be accommodated. Bruce Simmeth and James Harrell pointed out
that we need to keep encouraging people to utilize the entitlement programs.
o Bruce Simmeth said to keep advocating for food stamp funding. James
concurred. If a percentage of the funding is not used it may signify a reduced
need which could result in future elimination of funding to address the budget
crisis. Need to get people connected to resources available or risk losing those
resources.

• Partners brought up challenges and barriers, strategies to address them and
responsible entities to attain food security:
Challenges / Barriers Strategies Who
Transportation:
• Limits to how many
bags passengers are
allowed to bring on the
bus causes people to
not obtain what they
need from the food
pantries.
• Limited routes
Stigma
Staff insensitivity and or
turnover
Changing face of hunger (not
what it used to be)
Miscommunication on
benefits and qualifications:
• For instance, some
people do not apply for
food stamps because
they know someone
who only got $16 a
month and they don’t
feel that it’s worth the
effort to sign up.
• WIC-many people stop
using it when they stop
getting formula, but
they can continue until
their children are five
years old.
• Advocate for changes
to eliminate the 2 bag
per person rule.
• Identify pockets of
need and advocate for
better bus service.
• Identify resources in
those areas for
referrals or to highlight
service missing.
• Educate staff on nonverbal
responses and
services available.
• Asked – if you found
$20.00 on the street
would you stop and
pick it up? It all adds
up.
• Create info sheet on
qualifications for each
program for easy
access and informed
referrals. Would
eliminate
misconceptions and
allow recipient to
access assistance more
quickly as they would
have all required
documentation.
Would also result in
less stress for service
providers and
applicants.
• Partnership staff will
research pockets of
need and forward to
group for further
discussion.

Challenges / Barriers Strategies Who
Lack of cooking
knowledge/skills for foods
provided at pantries and
farmers’ markets
Possible Beaver Co. Transit
Authority strike
Program staff unaware of
programs available and where
to refer those in need.
• Some people do not
know that they can get
more than one service
or support—WIC and
SNAP, for instance.
• Bruce Simmeth spoke
about Christina
Winniewicz having
marketed the summer
food program well
when not many people
in Beaver County
knew about it.
Lack of knowledge of
paperwork/documents needed
to apply for and receive
benefits.
• People do not always
know food pantry
guidelines so they may
not know what they
need to take with them
when they go to the
food pantries.
• Have
distributors/volunteers
prepare food tasting
samples at
distributions, distribute
recipes.
• A resource that
provides information
on: Who’s doing
what. Where are the
resources? How do we
get info on services to
the people who need
them?
• Rebecca Salopak
spoke about getting the
information out to
people with an
incentive—for
instance, Christina W.
brought tote bags for
children to encourage
enrollment in the
Summer Food
Program.
• Pgh. Food Bank
provides recipes at
P2Ps of the foods
being distributed.
• Franklin Service
Directory for $10—
available at Franklin
Center.
• Beaver County CAN
(BCCAN.org) has an
online directory that is
free and that can be
downloaded.
• Christina stated that
she would provide any
marketing resources
that anyone needed.

• James Harrell again suggested picking something to focus on: Give thought on
how to proceed as Partners. Do we need to look at percentages of people not
being served on the scorecard or the number of people lacking services?
o Marnie Schilken stated that the group will need to choose what to focus on,
but that they didn’t know enough about the programs.
o Major Lyle stated that he would like to see some reconciliation between
numbers of eligible vs. the numbers of people who are food insecure.
o Janet Elder pointed out that the Partnership does not have an agenda, so the
group will be charged with choosing which items to focus on. The group is
very diverse and not everyone knows about every program available. Would
be able to choose foci at the next meeting.
V. Scheduling the next meeting
• Bruce Simmeth suggested that the date be chosen after consulting with other groups
that may want to be at the next meeting.
o Partners asked that Franklin Center and Beaver County Transit Authority continue
receiving invitations to Beaver County Partnership meetings.
o All attendees are encouraged to invite other agencies to the next Beaver County
Partnership meeting.
o Janet Elder will send out a choice of dates ASAP and identify possible host sites.
VI. Meeting adjourned at 11:20 am.