Beckwith Institute Gives $400,000 to Support Food Banks and COVID-19 Recovery

To care for the communities UPMC serves — both inside and outside its hospital walls — The Beckwith Institute is providing $400,000 to support more than a dozen charitable organizations, as well as grants to health care workers devising projects that promote COVID-19 recovery efforts.

Half of the money from the institute, founded with the goal of transforming the delivery of health care, will be used to address food insecurity and other emergency needs for the most vulnerable people in communities across Pennsylvania, western Maryland and western New York. The other half will fund the Beckwith Institute’s Frontline Innovation Program for projects that support the physical and emotional health of UPMC’s patients, staff and communities.

“In this unprecedented time, we thought it was important to devote even more of our resources to meeting the urgent needs of patients and staff coping with the impact of COVID-19,” said G. Nicholas Beckwith III, co-founder of the institute and chairman of UPMC’s board of directors. “Care does not begin and end in our hospitals, so we are funding a number of charitable organizations across our communities to ensure that we can compassionately address the full range of physical and emotional needs of the people we serve.”

Those organizations include:
  • United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania 211 Fund
  • Armstrong County Food Bank
  • Bedford County Food Bank
  • Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County
  • Society of St. Vincent De Paul Altoona-Johnstown
  • Greater Washington County Food Bank
  • Westmoreland County Food Bank
  • York County Food Bank
  • Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
  • Central Pennsylvania Food Bank
  • Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwestern Pennsylvania
  • Western Maryland Food Bank
  • Food Bank of Western New York