Uniontown Area School District partners with Highmark to provide fresh produce to community
The parking lot at Uniontown Area High School was bustling with activity Thursday for a free produce distribution.
The school district partnered with Highmark Wholecare to hand out 1,200 bags full of fresh produce to the community. More than 600 families were assisted.
“This is the first time we’ve participated in this event,” said Dan Bosnic, superintendent of Uniontown Area School District. “A lot of these people are our students and our students’ families. It feels great to see them taking advantage of the fresh produce.”
In total, 14,319 pounds of produce were distributed, according to Michael Callaghan, manager of operations for Highmark Wholecare Connection Center.
“The gist of these events is to help people with food insecurity,” Callaghan said. “If you’re not able to get a meal once a day or once a week, we can hopefully supplement those meals by getting a healthy meal with the fresh produce.”
Callaghan added the distributon was made possible by working with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and other food banks in the area to provide the produce.
During the event there were some vendors available for people to visit after getting their produce.
“We have vendors here, offering community resources to our family,” Bosnic said. “We’re so thrilled for that.”
Student volunteers also spent time during the school day helping pack the bags with produce as well as helping load the food into vehicles during the event.
“The students here have been tremendous,” Callaghan said. “They were out here during the day helping pack all of these bags of produce.”