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Squirrel Hill pantry caters to kosher palate
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Rick Wills can be reached via
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Passover dinner will cost Becky Abrams an extra $10,000 this = year.
"We have to do it. There's no choice," said Abrams, director of the = Squirrel=20 Hill Food Pantry, the only kosher pantry in Southwestern Pennsylvania. = Its=20 approximately 500 clients will receive bags next week that include = gefilte fish=20 and matzo, or unleavened bread =97 both traditional Passover foods.
Demand at the pantry has been up sharply in the past six months, as = much as=20 72 percent higher month-to-month compared with last year.
"There have been at least 15 new people coming in each month," said = Abrams, a=20 social worker who has been director of the pantry and its $235,000 = annual budget=20 for three years.
Managers at all area food pantries are scrambling for funding and = donations.=20 Since September, about 2,500 additional households have started using = the=20 region's 350 pantries each month, according to Iris Valanti, a = spokeswoman for=20 the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Once they have food, workers at most pantries need to look at = expiration=20 dates and little else. It's not that simple at the Squirrel Hill = facility, where=20 hundreds of items -- nearly all of which cost more -- have to be = inspected to=20 make sure they are kosher.
"There's really a lot more to sort through and look at," Abrams said. =
Kosher food designation certifies that items comply with an intricate = set of=20 Biblical dietary laws focused on the preparation, ingredients and mixing = of=20 various food types. Kosher dietary restrictions prohibit certain foods,=20 including shellfish and pork.
Like other pantries, Squirrel Hill's does what it can for clients = during=20 holidays -- meaning turkeys at Thanksgiving but also apples and honey at = Rosh=20 Hashana and ingredients for latkes, or potato pancakes, at Hanukkah. =
Clients of the pantry include many non-Jews, including Muslims, whose = dietary=20 restrictions resemble kosher restrictions.
There are 5,900 Jewish households in Squirrel Hill, according to = census=20 figures, and Jews form the core of the pantry's clients.
"I eat kosher. In Russia, I did not eat kosher because I thought they = would=20 put me in jail for it," said Nina Krimer, 74, of Squirrel Hill, a = refugee from=20 Yekaterinburg, Russia, who arrived in Pittsburgh 11 years ago with no = money and=20 no knowledge of English.
"I am Jewish, and that made everything in Russia impossible. I am = happy that=20 I can now live freely. The pantry helps me out a lot," she said.
Younger clients, such as Dorit Sasson and her family, are typical of = the many=20 Americans running up against hard economic times and inadequate = income.
"The pantry is a godsend for many families. They provide the minimum = and=20 more," said Sasson, 40, who teaches English as a Second Language at the=20 Community College of Allegheny County and whose husband is a manager at = the=20 kosher meat and cheese department at Giant Eagle in Shadyside.
The pantry is heavily supported by Jewish Children and Family = Services, a=20 nonprofit social services agency. It also relies on business donations. =
"We are trying to give where we can, especially in today's economic=20 situation. And the pantry does wonderful work," said Lee Hurwitz, = president of=20 Abner & Leff Foods Co., a North Side dairy manufacturer and = distributor.=20
Daniel Berkowitz, owner of Sweet Tammy's, a kosher bakery on Murray = Avenue,=20 sends the pantry nearly all of his leftovers.
"Bakeries always bake a little more than what they need. Helping the = pantry=20 is our responsibility as a local mom-and-pop business, " he said. =
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