Baldwin's Blessed Trinity Parish holding food distribution instead of Lenten fish fry - TribLIVE

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Blessed Trinity Parish will host a food distribution at its Baldwin church this month in lieu of its traditional Lenten fish fry.

The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26 outside St. Albert the Great Church, 3198 Schieck St.

The parish partnered with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to give away at least 500 boxes of food to those in need regardless of residence or income.

Blessed Trinity serves Carrick, Baldwin, Brentwood, Hays, Pleasant Hills, Overbrook and parts of Mt. Oliver.

“There’s a lot of need throughout all of those communities,” said the Rev. Stephen Kresak, church pastor. “If we don’t get the 500 to come and take the food, we still have a lot of local food pantries in the area. We’ll still be able to distribute it out to the needy.

“If we find out a week before that we are over the 500, we’ll make arrangements with the food bank to have more boxes delivered for that day.”

Local businesses have joined in to provide the parish bulk deals and donations of related items for distribution:

• Tom Friday’s Market in the Brighton Heights area will provide 500 pounds of frozen ground beef.

• Jordan Banana Co. in Dravosburg will supply a variety of fruit.

• Schneider’s Dairy in Whitehall pledged to give 500 half-gallon containers of milk.

• Giant Eagle in Brentwood is likely to provide 500 half-dozen cookies.

Kresak said organizers are still working out the details. Deacon Dan Nizan is one of those organizers.

Nizan said the parish decided not to do fish fries this year out of an abundance of caution for its volunteers during the pandemic.

“Usually they’re older folks who are retired and enjoy volunteering their time, but we didn’t want to take a chance with them working on proximity of each other and contracting the virus,” Nizan said. “We’re asking our parishioners as well as whoever we can reach in the community at large to support the local restaurants to procure their fish dinners and fish sandwiches.

“They’re struggling in difficult times. It also helps to keep the restaurants’ employees employed. We’re stepping back from doing the typical Lenten fish fry. We’re trying to think a little bit outside the box and reach out into the community and give a little bit of assistance to those who are struggling to put food on their table.”

About 50 people have signed up to volunteer on the day of the distribution. Those involved will be wearing masks, gloves and following state health department guidelines.

Families can drive up and have volunteers load their vehicles with food.

Parishioners will also make arrangements for those who do not have transportation or a computer.

Nizan stressed the need for families to register for the food distribution but said the parish will not turn people away who need food.

“We want to have a little bit of organization to this and an orderly fashion to the best of our ability,” he said.

The parish also is doing a cash raffle to help raise money for the food bank. Tickets are $2 each or $20 for a book of 11. Drawings are planned for April 5-10 with progressive cash prizes from $500 to $5,000.

Participants need to register ahead of time either online at blessedtrinitypgh.org or by calling the parish office at 412-884-7744. Call the parish office for more information on the raffle.

Michael DiVittorio is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-871-2367, mdivittorio@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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