Adam Forgie partners with local pizzerias to raise food-assistance funds
When roughly 160,000 residents in Allegheny County — including more than 50,000 children — were threatened with losing their monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, community members stepped up.
As mayor of Turtle Creek and candidate for Congress, Forgie helped organize a grassroots response. He joined with three local pizza shops — Shelly Pie, Casey’s, and Fox’s — to launch a fund-raising effort: for a $50 “pizza punch card,” buyers receive a large pizza from each shop, and proceeds are converted into grocery gift cards for families cut off from SNAP.
He pointed out that this moment “really hits home” to him as a former school teacher — and insisted that “if our three pizza shops can do it, they should be able to do it in D.C.”
In addition to the fundraiser, a canned-goods drive is being held: community members can drop off non-perishable donations at the pizza shops or at the borough building over the next several Saturdays.
Through this effort — mobilized from the bottom up — Forgie is working to make sure local families don’t go hungry while federal assistance remains uncertain.