Initiating creative and timely solutions to help families and children in need, while developing strategies and partnerships that lead to cost-effective and sustainable community programs.
Our goal is to initiate creative, sustainable solutions to the problems faced in our communities. That means, rather than trying to solve every problem ourselves, we work to connect people who have needs with people who want to help. To create the most lasting changes, we focus on the development of families and the removal of barriers to education, including food insecurity.
Our concept is unique – we operate as a problem-solving team. When a need is identified we work together to come up with a creative and effective solution in a short amount of time. The key to our long term success will be to identify people, groups, and businesses willing to adopt programs once they are up and running.
Together with friends, colleagues, experts, and community members and leaders who have helped us grow, we’ve pledged to use our experience with community organizations and service projects, our professional skills, experience and connections to benefit other children and families.
The Need
Many people may assume that families in the northern suburbs of Allegheny County don’t have a lot of urgent, basic needs, but the demographics in our suburbs are changing, and more people than ever need help making ends meet.
According to numbers from the US Census Bureau, more than a quarter of the student population in the North Hills School District are eligible for free or reduced breakfast and lunch. These are children from families meeting federal income eligibility and situation-based guidelines.
“Food insecurity,” or being without reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food, is just one symptom of families living at or below the poverty line. Census numbers indicate that even some of our more affluent school districts have families living in poverty, which correlates to the number of school-age children receiving free and reduced breakfast and lunch. If it weren’t for local food pantries and backpack initiatives (food that goes home on Fridays with qualifying students), many of our kids would go hungry at night and on weekends.
This is where North Hills Cares comes in. It is our goal to make sure that students who may rely on school-provided breakfasts and lunches are fed over the summer break. Since the pandemic began in 2020, North Hills Cares has served over 43,000 lunches to children 18 and under. For the 2023 program, we are expanding our efforts to even more sites in the North Hills area to feed even more kids who need it.
Want to be a part of the magic? Check out our Volunteer page to sign up to be a volunteer for our Free Summer Lunch Program!
North Hills Cares 