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The mission of Meals on Wheels of Peters Township is to provide a hot, nutritious meal to anyone who has difficulty shopping for food or cooking meals, regardless of income.

Our primary service is to senior citizens, but we can assist others in special circumstances. Celebrating our 40th birthday this November, our program was created in 1974 as a joint project of local churches and operated out of the kitchen of St. David's Church for 34 years. In 2008 we incorporated and became an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Since its humble beginnings, our Meals on Wheels has grown into a major community asset. Headed by long-time volunteer director Susan Hanawalt, the organization has five employees, many kitchen and driver volunteers, and a volunteer Board of Directors.

We moved to our current location above the Peters Township Fire Department in 2009 in order to accommodate an increasing volume of meals. At that time, we were delivering meals to approximately 100 clients each day on seven routes. In less than five years, our program has almost doubled in size and we now serve between 175 and 200 clients on twelve routes each day, in a wide service area which includes Peters Township, Canonsburg, Houston, Eighty-Four, Finleyville, Lawrence, Bridgeville/South Fayette, and parts of Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park.

Thanks to generous community support, we are able to offer good quality meals for a very modest fee, without the use of government funds. We rely on over 200 volunteers throughout the course of a year to contribute their time and talents to prepare, package, and deliver meals to our clients. Local businesses, foundations, non-profit groups, and individuals also contribute financially and with donated items like fresh produce from Trax farms and baked goods for desserts for our clients' meals.

As the need for meals continues to grow, so does the need for volunteers and donated food items. There are a variety of ways that community members can help meet these needs. Kitchen volunteers help prepare and package meals in our kitchen from 8:00 to 10:30 a.m. Volunteer drivers are needed for regular weekly routes and as substitutes to deliver meals to our clients on weekday mornings between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

We are also grateful for donations of leftover baked goods from Heisler's Market, Panera Bread, and Bartram's and would appreciate any additional stores joining this group. We can arrange pick-up whenever needed. Individual volunteers are also welcome to bake desserts at home to donate for our clients' meals or to bring in garden produce that we can use in our meals. Students can earn community service hours for time spent volunteering in any way for us.

For more information on our program or ways to volunteer, please call 724-969-1000, email us at mowpt1@verizon.net or stop by our facility at 245 E. McMurray Road any weekday morning.

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