Community Corner

West Hills Food Pantry Kicks Off Mile of Cans Campaign

The annual event will take place Oct. 15 at the pantry's Carnot Road location.

If you take 15,840 cans and place them end-to-end, the line will stretch one mile.

The West Hills Food Pantry hopes to do just that at its annual Mile of Cans event later this year. The fund-raising campaign, now in its 15th year, provides aid to Moon-area families in need.

The pantry earlier this month kicked off the campaign for the event, hoping that the community would donate enough canned food to make the line stretching one mile down Carnot Road.

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The event will wrap up Oct. 15, when volunteers from the food pantry and other Moon organizations come together for the can lineup outside the pantry's Carnot Road location.

The event usually takes place on Thorn Run Road, said Rick Weiss, family minister at in Moon. At this year's event, community members will be able to catch a first-hand glimpse inside the food pantry's operations.

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"We've actually gone two miles some years," Weiss said. "Not only is it a good fundraiser for the canned goods that they need, but it allows the pantry to purchase more expensive food items like meat."

Weiss said his congregation has pledged to donate enough cans to cover one-tenth of a mile. He said other organizations and businesses also may pledge donations.

He said the pantry and its volunteers began reaching out to Moon-area businesses last week. In the coming months, volunteers will canvass neighborhoods and set up food drop-off locations throughout the township.

Weiss said when the event began nearly two decades ago, the line of donated canned goods barely made it a quarter of a mile.

"The event started off as our children's services project [at Impact Christian Church], and it's become a big community event,” Weiss said. “We get groups from the school, Boy Scouts, students from []."

Weiss said interested donors can drop off nonperishable canned goods at the pantry's at or contact pantry staff for more information about getting involved.

The West Hills Food Pantry, which is volunteer-operated, serves families in Moon, Coraopolis, Crescent and Neville Island.

"There have been years when [the food pantry's] shelves were practically empty before this event," Weiss said. "They really count on it."


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