by Wendy Allman, Director of Social Services
The RP Home was one of ten nursing care facilities invited to participate in the Crisis Employee Support Program (CRESP). Through a generous grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Health Care Council of Western Pennsylvania partnered with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Marburger Dairy and Reinhart Food Services to provide monthly food boxes for any employee that wanted to receive them. The program began in October of 2020 and ran through January of 2021, RP Home employees were able to order Thrive Shelf Stable, Dairy and Produce boxes that were delivered right to the facility for pick up. During this time, 49 different staff members participated in the program receiving 121 Thrive, 114 dairy, and 130 produce boxes!
Beginning in February 2021 and running through June 2021, employees are still able to order a Thrive Shelf Stable box each month. If the Health Care Council is able to secure additional funding they will restart the dairy and produce box option of the program.
Healthcare Council composed the following video to share the highlights of the CRESP program: https://youtu.be/VoYagqSiiOo
Overall, employees who participated in the program expressed a very high satisfaction with the program. One employee stated that, “I really appreciated being able to receive these food products. It really helped my family out and helped me save some money I would have spent on groceries.” Employees also appreciated the convenience of being able to receive the food boxes right here at the RP Home.
We are very appreciative to the Healthcare Council and Richard King Mellon Foundation who identified the need to support our frontline workers.
