Bethel Park-based SHIM celebrates the South Hills
Lah Eh was among the SHIM youth mentors handing out “I Joined the Movement” signs to guests at the May 19 event.
Matt Smith accepts the 2016 South Hills Champion honor from Nancy Murray, a member of SHIM’s board of directors.
The Rev. Kris McInnes, chairman of the SHIM board of directors, gave opining comments and the blessing at the May 19 event.
Students in SHIM’s Refugee Youth Mentoring Program are, from left, Saroj Bhandari, Pratik Wagley, Lah Eh, Susie Backsheider (youth mentor coordinator), Bandhana Phuyal, Tulasha Bhattarai, Binsha Bhattarai, Kritika Timsina and Yuba Neupane. The program is designed to foster the academic and emotional development of middle and high school students living in Whitehall Place, empowering them to graduate from high school and achieve success in college or the workplace. Many participating students are refugees from Nepal, Burma, Thailand and Sudan working to adapt to life in the United States.
Jim Guffey, SHIM executive director, welcomes guests.
Cris Winter served as master of ceremonies.
Eileen and Matt Smith enjoy the evening.
Among those in attendance were the Rev. Paul Edwards, Jefferson Hospital chaplain, and Charles Modispacher, Jefferson Hospital director emeritus.
SHIM board member Cynthia Donahoe, center, greets guests Susan Stuart and Rich Pietroski.
SHIM board of directors, from left: Jim Marino, Betsy Hohlfelder, Cynthia Donahoe, the Rev. Kris McInnes, Kathy Brown and Nancy Murray
SHIM executive director Jim Guffey, right, greets John R. Echement, Jefferson Hospital director emeritus.
Tulasha Bhattarai was among the SHIM youth mentors handing out “I Joined the Movement” signs to guests at the May 19 event.
Among those in attendance supporting SHIM were Upper St. Clair residents, from left, Tammy Funk, Jerry Kopach and Anne Kopach.
Among those in attendance were Michael Nugent and Christen Stroh.
Think of Peters Township, and you’re likely to get the same impression described by the Rev. Kris McInnes:
“It’s a community that is generally, like much of the South Hills, a very well-to-do community,” he said.
St. David’s Episcopal Church, where he is priest-in-charge, hosts the Peters Township Farmers Market on Wednesdays. On one such occasion, McInnes talked with a woman who inquired if the market accepts electronic benefit transfers, issued by state for food assistance, to buy fresh produce.
“It turns out she’s a divorced mom who’s trying to make everything work on the income that she has, and she is in great need of support,” he told those in attendance during Celebrate the South Hills with SHIM, the main fundraiser for the South Hills Interfaith Movement.
“We might not realize it,” McInnes said, “but all around us is need and people who are in very vulnerable situations.”
SHIM pulls no punches about the extent of the need. The nonprofit organization, which has been providing essentials and services since 1968, puts out promotional materials with eye-opening messages such:
“Welcome to the South Hills, where schools are great, homes are beautiful and 2,300 people are hungry.”
“It’s really amazing to find out how many people, our neighbors, are in need,” radio personality and Peters resident Cris Winter said while serving as master of ceremonies for the May 19 event at South Hills Country Club in Whitehall.
She told about a recent visit to the SHIM center in Bethel Park, where 40-plus volunteers were gathered and in action.
“They were helping load clothes,” she said. “They were painting the deck. They were fixing the roof. They were building the garden out front. The volunteers did a fabulous job, and it was really was a great opportunity for me to see exactly what SHIM does.”
What SHIM does is provide food, clothing, programming and other resources to about 4,000 people, a number that has doubled in the past year.
“But that’s about half of the number that we know is out there that needs that help,” Jim Guffey, SHIM executive director, said.
He talked about the impetus for this year’s name change of the organization from the original South Hills Interfaith Ministries to incorporating “Movement.”
“It’s about sharing the information, understanding the need of the community and how you can join the movement to help us make the community a better community,” he explained.
The 230 or so people attending Celebrate the South Hills with SHIM are likely to help spread the word, given their generosity: During a “backwards auction” seeking donations toward the end of the evening, they gave more than $20,000 toward an overall fundraising total of $78,865.
The event also honored Bethel Park native and Mt. Lebanon resident Matt Smith as 2016 South Hills Champion, acknowledging his support of SHIM while he was serving in the state Legislature. Smith continues to work with the organization in his current position of president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, SHIM continues to provide for those in need.
“It’s not just offering someone who is in need something now,” McInnes said, “but building a foundation for them and their families for their lives, for the future, gathering them around them so they know they are not alone, that they’re not outcasts, that they’re part of the community.
“We want them to thrive. And that’s who we are.”
For more information, visit http://shimcares.org/.