Manufacturing employees volunteer at food bank in Delmont
Anthony Beckley, vice president and general manager for Murrysville manufacturing company Dormont, was used to occasionally taking a work day and doing volunteer work with his employees.
“I’d done a lot of it in my previous jobs at GE and Abbott Laboratories,” Beckley said.
A little more than a year into his employment with Dormont, which manufactures stainless steel gas connectors at Westmoreland County Industrial Park III off of Mellon Road, he realized the company could use a similar program.
“I saw we hadn’t done that sort of thing, and I thought it would work perfect here,” he said.
Working with Sen. Kim Ward’s office, Beckley coordinated a volunteer day for about 70 Dormont workers, himself included, at the Westmoreland County Food Bank in Delmont last week.
“It was Anthony’s initiative that allowed us to do this,” said Dormont spokeswoman Susan Galya. “We’re a 24-hour, five-day-a-week operation as well, so in order to do this on a weekday we have a few shifts of employees coming in so their schedules aren’t disrupted too much.”
Dormont employees sorted and boxed about 65,000 pounds of items the food bank received through the U.S. Postal Service’s Letter Carrier Stamp Out Hunger Drive.
Food bank volunteer and food-drive coordinator Louise Wilhelm said she appreciates the efforts from Dormont workers.
“Usually we get a group this size on a Saturday, maybe once a month,” Wilhelm said. “To have them stop by on a weekday is great.”
Volunteers donated more than 98,600 hours helping the food bank, according to its 2017 annual report. That is the equivalent of 47 full-time staff members. According to its website, about 79% of volunteers are 50 or older, and the agency is always in need of younger, able-bodied help.
Beckley said employees were excited to spend a day volunteering.
“I think it’s a worthwhile investment to take care of the communities we live in,” he said.
Anyone interested in volunteering at the food bank can contact Wilhelm at 724-468-8660.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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