Mar 27, 2015 3 min read

The Snack Shack at Canonsburg Hospital has been serving up sandwiches, smiles and supportive words for several decades. But Tuesday, the small cafe and gift shop run almost entirely by volunteers will close temporarily because of lack of management.

Dan Laurent, spokesman for Allegheny Health Network, said the hospital “fully intends” to reopen the shop. Officials on the women’s auxiliary board, which manages the cafe and gift shop, told hospital administrators they had to step down.

“They managed the gift shop for many years but did notify us this past week that they would no longer be able to fill that specific role for us,” Laurent said. “Volunteers are critically important to our hospital operations at Canonsburg, but really we’re just looking at various options.”

Auxiliary board President Rose Szafraniec said age and health issues were factors in the current board’s decision to step down. She said none of the 144 auxiliary members volunteered to replace them.

“Nobody wants to be the president. We can’t get anybody to take our place,” she said earlier this week. “It’s basically if you don’t have an auxiliary board to run it, you can’t run it. And so that’s what we have to do.”

About 55 to 60 members volunteer regularly, she said.

Volunteer Shelby Estoker said the board positions were demanding, and thus undesirable to auxiliary members who are typically retired and volunteer four hours a week. However, she said she wishes a manager could have been hired without having to halt operations. She said the cafe is not only a service to the hospital, but also to the community.

“I’m not there to make money for the hospital,” said Estoker, 77, of Canonsburg. “I’m there for all of the people of Canonsburg and Houston and North Strabane – all the people that come in there needing a cup of coffee, or they need a sandwich after fasting for 12 hours and then they have a blood test. They need us there.”

Helen Boles, who has volunteered at the Snack Shack for 15 years, said the decision to close up shop was upsetting.

“This is breaking my heart. I enjoyed it so much,” said Boles, 80, of Strabane. She said the volunteers are cheerful and caring.

“Our motto was, ‘You gotta wear a smile on your face. Otherwise, leave,'” she said jokingly.

Boles initially served food to customers but later learned how to work the register. In addition to the volunteers, three paid cooks work in the kitchen.

Ursal Yankowsky, 80, of Bentleyville, has volunteered at the cafe for 23 years. She said she felt it was an important way to give back to the community.

“We would feel badly when someone would come in, and you would see they were crying because something had happened to their loved ones there,” she said. “You just felt like talking with them did help them. … Those kinds of things just remain with you.”