How the Red Door and Catholic Charities are Feeding the Hungry
At lunchtime along the Boulevard of the Allies, a long line of hungry people queues at a small, bright red door, as they have for nearly 100 years. Located at Saint Mary of Mercy Church (Divine Mercy Parish), The Red Door ministry has unfailingly fed the hungry since the Great Depression.
What began as a simple sidewalk outreach is now a daily lifeline for hundreds of people. Today, their needs are greater than at any point in recent memory, as cuts hit many government social services and federal grant recipients.
“The need continues to grow,” said Father Nicholas Vaskov, pastor of the Shrines of Pittsburgh and Divine Mercy Parish. “Jesus said, ‘The poor you will have with you always.’ We’ve witnessed that. In some ways, what we do is simple. We fill the need that’s in front of us. We offer consistency and stability.”
For Terry, one of the men who regularly comes to The Red Door for lunch, that consistency has become something he can count on. That consistency matters. This past summer, The Red Door saw its daily meal numbers jump from about 150 lunches a day to 350. Relying entirely on volunteers and donations, the ministry serves lunch seven days a week and a hot dinner every Thursday evening. As more neighbors faced food insecurity, rising rent, SNAP benefit delays, and the closure of other meal programs Downtown, the lines at The Red Door grew longer. People waited in sometimes harsh weather. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which has moved into the former diocesan pastoral center adjacent to the Red Door, stepped in to help by creating an indoor dining area in a former auditorium.
