'Personalized Touch': For Those Who Can't Leave Home During Coronavirus Pandemic, Cranberry's Community Response Team Is There To Help
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- While people across the state are staying home, one community is rallying volunteers to help out at-risk populations.
Cranberry now has a community response team.
"For these high-risk individuals in the township, we want them to stay home," said Scott Garing, the chief of Cranberry Fire and Emergency Services.
The community response team is made up of 130 volunteers and counting.
"There was really no thought to it. I saw the ad come up and I signed up that minute," said volunteer Chris Corcoran.
When someone needs help, they call the township and volunteers will go out to pick up what is needed.
"I just think having this personalized touch is special," Corcoran said.
On April 1, some volunteers were called to help at the Public Safety Training Center. Each volunteer was given a grocery list and a gift card to purchase items for people in need.
In some cases, the experience came full circle when some volunteers got to deliver the products.
"He didn't come outside, which is understandable. I left the groceries where he asked me to leave them and we waved at each other. He said thank you and I gave him a big wave and went on my way," Corcoran said.
For other volunteers, they purchased items to help stock up the township's supplies.
"At the very beginning of all this, we saw supplies running off the shelves everywhere so we felt the need to get some donations and then get some supplies. So whenever the residents requested them, we would have something to give them immediately," Garing said.
From donations to volunteer hours, Garing told KDKA the entire project will last longer than the coronavirus because it shows what's good in Cranberry Township.
If you are interested in volunteering or someone who needs help during the pandemic, more information can be found here.
The township is also accepting any donations to help purchase supplies.
