The 44th Annual KDKA-TV Turkey Fund is underway, and every Wednesday from now until Thanksgiving, we’re going to share stories with you about why your donations to the Turkey Fund are so important.

This week, we’re pulling back the curtain on the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s food sourcing to see what it takes for the food bank to get all the food it needs to help feed our neighbors in need.

“The stewardship of this food is very important, so we track it all very carefully,” said Josh Murphy, the director of supply chain strategy at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Last year, the food bank distributed 47 million pounds of food at 600 partner locations throughout 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s the most the food bank has ever distributed.

So, where do they get all that food? Murphy says there are three main streams.

First, donations.

“A little bit less than half of our food is a donation of some kind,” said Murphy. Their donations are generally excess food from places like retail stores, farms and manufacturers.

The food bank also buys a great deal of food through their own funding and monetary donations or through government contracts. Murphy says they buy food from local farms through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System.

And finally, there’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which buys food from farms and dairies that maybe have an excess of food that they can’t sell for whatever reason. 

“To stop the price from bottoming out, the USDA buys that food to maintain market stability and donates it to food banks,” Murphy.

In addition, the food bank is part of what’s known as the MARC, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative.

“That’s a cooperative that consists of about 25 to 27 food banks in the Mid-Atlantic region all the way from New York down to South Carolina. It’s based out of the Port of Philadelphia. And what they do is they actually source produce from all over the country. It’s really a lot of different systems that are all interacting with each other in some way,” Murphy said.

He also says keeping track of everything is a real balancing act. 

“If we receive a big donation of chicken from USDA, we might not have to buy chicken for three weeks. So, we have to keep all these things in mind when we’re deciding how to source and distribute food,” he said. 

In the last decade, the food bank has made fresh food a priority and has shifted its inventory to include larger quantities of it.

“Things like fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt, fresh eggs, and of course meat. Lean proteins like fish, meat and that sort of thing,” Murphy said.

All of those things are often the most expensive items at the grocery store and the most difficult to afford for people who are struggling to put food on the table.

“These are the things that people ask for the most. These are the things that we can get at the best value. And these happen to also be the things that are often the healthiest to eat. So, really fresh food has been a focus for us. Fifty-eight percent of our total product mix last fiscal year was fresh food,” Murphy said.

In the end, Murphy says it all boils down to the common goal of eliminating food insecurity.

“When people are food insecure, you know the key word there is secure. You feel less secure, you’re more agitated, you don’t perform as well at work, you don’t perform as well at school. All of those things have impacts on everyone around them. By helping to increase food security in southwestern Pennsylvania, we’re not just benefiting the people who are in need right now. We’re benefiting the whole community around them who all live in a safer, healthier and more amiable existence because of it, right? It’s a big deal. It’s almost unfathomable to think about how many individuals have a little bit happier life, a little bit happier existence because of all of the hard work and generosity that goes into this. And that’s what I think about all the time. It’s not about the numbers. It’s about the people.”

Because the people are the community, and community is the food bank’s middle name.

Now’s your chance to help the food bank help our neighbors in need as we approach the holidays. We’re asking you to please donate to the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund. Go to any PNC Bank and they’ll match all donations of $50 or more. You can also text “KDTURKEY” to 50155 or donate at kdka.com/turkeyfund. And we’re also still accepting checks. Mail them to “PO Box Thanks, Pittsburgh, PA 15230.”

From all of us at KDKA-TV, thank you!