Wondering how your donation to The GBU Foundation has made an impact on others? Below are testimonials from some of the 2024 Community Grant Award winners.

Organization Name: Light of Life Ministries, Inc.

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Light of Life Ministries is one of the Pittsburgh's primary resources for men, women, and children experiencing homelessness, poverty, or addiction. Their Food Pantry serve low-income residents on the Pittsburgh’s Northside and is a distribution hub for other food pantries/community partners in the area.

The 2024 Community Grant Award enabled Light of Life to purchase high demand food/supplies and items not typically available through our donation process for the Food Pantry. Some items include meat, juice, diapers for infants and toddlers, and supplements and other items designed to support senior health.

The Food Pantry served over 100 families each week on the day we open to the public. 26 community partners came to pick up food to redistribute to the people they serve. Between the public shopping and partners coming for food, the Pantry distributes an average of almost 11,000 pounds of food each week – the equivalent of approximately 9,000 meals!



Learn more about Light of Life here.

Organization Name: The ALS Association

Location: Arlington, VA

The ALS Association (ALSA) helps patients and families cope with the day-to-day challenges of living with ALS by providing information, resources, and referrals to many sources, including a wide variety of community services.

The 2024 Community Grant Award to the Pittsburgh Chapter enabled ALSA to purchase 7 portable power wheelchairs for our loan program. These small portable power wheelchairs are not covered by insurance, so we make them available as part of our loan program. It allows those living with ALS the opportunity to go out into the community, attend family events, as well as medical appointments.

ALSA provided a Literider  Envy to an individual living with ALS that was having difficulty getting around independently where he lives. There is limited space, small areas and he needed something that he could maneuver independently. The Literider allows him to attend activities with others in the community, he can pull right up to a dining room table and does not need to get out of the Literider onto a chair which is difficult for him. He also can continue one of favorite “jobs” of watering the inside and outside plants. He puts the watering can on his lap and can move easily around to water the plants without struggling and does not need to rely on others, but can now do it himself. The independence the Literider achieves and the ability to participate in enjoyable activities is the goal of providing this much needed equipment.

Learn more about the ALS Association here.

Organization Name: Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (WC&S)

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

The Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (WC&S) of Pittsburgh is dedicated to providing comprehensive support services to survivors of domestic violence (DV) and their children, helping them to navigate through incredibly challenging times.

The 2024 Community Grant Award enabled WC&S to refresh the technology infrastructure within our Children's Advocacy Program (CAP) and Onsite Computer Lab. The Children’s Advocacy Program (CAP) helps child survivors of DV and their mothers to heal from trauma by meeting their basic needs (such as medical care and school access), providing behavioral health services, parenting support, and offering recreation and educational activities.

New computers in the Children’s Advocacy Program (CAP) have benefited survivors as well as staff. The Onsite Computer Lab allows resident and non-resident clients to enjoy a safe space in which to search for housing, work on a resumé, complete job or school applications, or simply keep in touch with friends and family via email or social media. This investment enhances the experience of survivors in completing a variety of tasks that will move them forward in their healing journeys.

For staff, the upgrades have improved workflow, and equip staff to better assist mothers as they need help finding resources for parenting or identifying next steps in enrolling their kids into school.

Learn more about the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh here.

Organization Name: Hopebound Ministries Inc., DBA Mooncrest Neighborhood Programs

Location: Moon Twp., PA

Mooncrest Neighborhood Programs in Moon Township, PA, offers a variety of services to promote spiritual, intellectual, physical, social and emotional development for local children and families.

The 2024 Community Grant Award helped fund a summer camp to keep 75 children engaged, enriched, challenged and fed each day so they could returned to school without “summer slide,” the learning loss that often occurs during summer break.

“Being kind” is an ongoing theme at summer camp. On the final day, a spontaneous act of kindness created a heartwarming ripple effect. Campers prize points for daily reading to select new toys and games at the end of camp celebration. Before awarding prizes, campers played Book Bingo to win books. One of the first winners, a fifth grader, opted to have her younger second grade sister pick her book prize. From that point, without any prompting from staff, every middle school student who won Bingo chose a younger student and escorted their chosen student to the prize table to help them select a prize book. The “Bigs” conspired together to make sure every “Little” was picked. The younger children were honored by the attention from the “Bigs” and with the prize, and the middle school student’s actions provided affirmation to staff that gentle lessons of kindness throughout the summer were heard and put in practice.

Learn more about Mooncrest Neighborhood Programs here.