Black-owned Exurbia Home Health Care Provides Free Meals to Clients During Coronavirus Pandemic
by Rob Taylor Jr.
New Pittsburgh Courier Staff Writer
On the day that New Pittsburgh Courier photographer Dayna Delgado caught up with the fast-moving folks at Exurbia Home Health Care, they had stopped at King of Kings Baptist Ministries in Garfield.
That’s where a number of Exurbia’s clients worship.
The rented U-Haul van full of meals from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank was unloaded by Exurbia CEO Randy Ford, president Robert Walker, and administrative staff like Randi and Robbi Walker flexed their muscles and carried pre-packaged food bank boxes into the church.
From there, the church would facilitate getting the food to some of its members in need.
Away from the Courier cameras, it’s still happening—Exurbia heading all over the region to provide meals to many of its roughly 75 clients, while also providing care for them in this, such an inexplicable moment in history—the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s the gratitude that we get from being able to offer this service, particularly in this time,” Ford told the Courier on May 11. “The responsibility of being blessed is being a blessing to others.”
Ford believes his company is the only home health agency in the region in partnership with the Food Bank. In businesses for about five years now, its caregiver services include personal care, companionship, medication reminders, light housekeeping and grocery shopping. But as COVID-19 has done its best to extinguish the American economy, it’s Ford’s company that’s found a silver lining—his employees are still employed, and many Exurbia clients are receiving more than just what’s contracted on paper.
“I can’t even put into words how gratifying it is,” Ford told the Courier about the free meals going to others through his company. “We realize it is our responsibility to give back to those who are less fortunate. We were raised in a generation to have respect for our elders, those who took care for us when we were younger.”
Ford, whose company, Exurbia, has headquarters on Liberty Avenue, Downtown, added: “The elderly, less fortunate, or whomever…we realize that sometimes, (not having) is not of their doing. Sometimes they just need help. For us, it’s a two-pronged approach. We assist our clients and we can provide employment as well. We are thankful and fortunate.”
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