Hospital and local non-profit using social media to assist area families and to increase awareness of suburban poverty
Beginning Tuesday, St. Clair Hospital is asking all Tweeters to help South Hills Interfaith Ministries (SHIM) provide holiday meals for needy residents of the area by participating in the Hospital’s upcoming #Tweet2Help drive.
SHIM, based in Bethel Park, is a non-profit, human services organization providing family and children services to the suburban poor and to refugee families living in the South Hills. SHIM’s suburban poverty programs include a food pantry, a community clothing closet, and financial literacy classes.
SHIM’s programs are designed to serve as a bridge toward self-sufficiency—meeting the emergency needs of the individuals and families they serve by providing the resources they need to attain self-sufficiency.
During the drive, St. Clair Hospital will donate 50 cents to SHIM for every retweet of the original St. Clair #Tweet2Help message from the @StClairHospital Twitter account, up to $1,000. Every $100 donated will provide groceries and household supplies to five families; every $500 donated will provide for 25 families. Meeting the $1,000 goal of the drive means 50 families will receive a meal this holiday season.
The drive commences Tuesday, December 13 and will continue until the $1,000 goal is reached. Again, all it takes to help 50 area families this holiday is to retweet the #Tweet2Help, the official hashtag of the campaign, from the @StClairHospital Twitter account., beginning December 13.
There are approximately 5,000 families living at or below the Federal Poverty Level within SHIM’s service area.
Almost 13 percent of families living in the Keystone Oaks School District live at or below the Federal Poverty Level. Four years ago, SHIM’s food pantry served an average of 119 area families each month. Last year, SHIM served an average of 301 families, as the number of suburban poor continued to grow.
The food pantry distributes more than 31,000 pounds of food each month.
About St. Clair Hospital
St. Clair Hospital is an independent, acute care facility that provides advanced, high quality health care to more than 400,000 residents of southwestern Pennsylvania. With 525 physicians and more than 2,000 employees, St. Clair is the largest employer in Pittsburgh’s South Hills. Providing virtually every health care service that residents might need throughout their lives, the Hospital combines advanced technologies with exceptional medical expertise to ensure that the community’s health needs are met. For more information, please visit www.stclair.org.
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