Using Machine Learning To Feed Families in Need

In this monotonous COVID-19 world, a team of 22 Parkhurst Dining and Eat’n Park employees begin every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the same way. The team arrives at the PNC Firstside Center in downtown Pittsburgh by 6 a.m. and gets to work.

The group makes hundreds of sandwiches, sorts snacks, fruits and vegetables, then packs it all into 400 brown bags. The food isn’t going to restaurant customers or PNC employees. Instead, it is boxed and driven to Penn Hills, a suburb on the east side of Pittsburgh. With help from Carnegie Mellon University, everything will be given away to families in need.