Dec 12, 2021 6 min read

George Omiros is a family man.

On his office walls in the Food Helpers headquarters along National West Pike in Brownsville are large, beautiful paintings of Greece and Ohiopyle that look like artwork from a New York City gallery.

But the paintings were done by his son, Christopher, who works in marketing and comes by his artistic ability honestly: Omiros spent years creating stained glass windows and enjoys writing.

Awards and certificates hang alongside those paintings, and family photos decorate the roomy shelves so that Omiros is never far from his wife, Sophia; his daughter, Alicia McCloskey, or his granddaughter Alyse, who loves hearing her pappous, which is Greek for “grandfather,” read to her.

Serving as CEO of Food Helpers seems like a natural position for the Uniontown native who’s never strayed far from home. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh and ventured west – but not too west – to Central Michigan University, where he received a masters degree in nonprofit management.

While Omiros has led Food Helpers since September, he’s already spent 40 years working with nonprofits.

Omiros spent a decade with the American Heart Association, in various leadership positions, before accepting the role of executive director of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a position he held for 20 years while concurrently serving in two national leadership roles for the nonprofit.

In 2008, Omiros became executive vice president in charge of fundraising and operations for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – the position was based out of New York City, so he commuted from his hometown to the Big Apple weekly.

As executive vice president, Omiros led a team of 1,800 full- and part-time staffers and managed a $350 million budget. When his wife received a second cancer diagnosis in 2015, Omiros stepped down from that position.

“I needed to spend time with her,” he said. “It was touch-and-go for about eight months. Once she was better … I went to work for the West Virginia University Foundation.”

He left the West Virginia University Foundation after nearly four years and spent the next two as a consultant, working with area food banks. When he heard a position had opened at Food Helpers, Omiros submitted his application.

“I thought, ‘ah, I’d love to do this.’ I’d love to really focus on helping people in the community who are dealing with hunger,” he said. “I’ve spent the last three-and-a-half months loving coming to work every day because I know what we’re doing has real value and is really touching the lives of people throughout not only Washington County, but this region.”

Food Helpers, which officially launched earlier this year, had already shifted away from the traditional food distribution models used for decades by food banks nationwide.

“There was a major shift – this predates me – a major shift in the philosophy of how we were going to provide food in the community, the county,” said Omiros. “The organization, having done extensive research … started to see that there was an important need to kind of redesign how we distribute our food sources. The model we went to pre-COVID was a truck-to-trunk model so that our food on the truck was distributed to people’s trunks.”

Omiros said the shift in food distribution was well received by some, not so highly praised by others.

“This truck to trunk ensured that we were taking the food, allocating it appropriately. Along comes the pandemic and all of a sudden, all of the other food banks around the country are moving to boxing it up and giving it right to the people,” Omiros said. “We were already there. It’s been very successful for us.”

Food Helpers’ progressive approach to eliminating hunger aligns with Omiros’ vision for the nonprofit. Right now, the Greater Washington County Food Bank, a division of Food Helpers, has 39 distributions sites, a number that will double come January.

But, said Omiros, “we don’t only want to provide food to the community.”

Omiros also wants to teach Washington County residents how to grow their own food, prepare nutritious meals and shop smart. He plans to expand the Food Helpers farm by adding an aquaponics program to the site, which already houses a hydroponics farm, an orchard and fields where, earlier this year, the nonprofit grew potatoes. Omiros said at one time, the food bank kept chickens and provided clients with farm-fresh eggs.

Omiros already is looking into partnerships with local school districts, where Food Helpers will teach students how to grow their own food, and the healthy habits training center teaches locals to prepare nutritious meals. Classes are currently on hold because of the pandemic.

“It’s the old adage about do you give people fish or do you teach them how to fish. Our goal is not only to provide food; we want to teach,” Omiros said. “We want to help help people learn how to become thrifty shoppers.”

Food Helpers has for several years owned and operated the Country Thrift Store, where folks can shop for gently-used and boutique clothing and accessories, home goods, shelf-stable food, health and beauty products.

“We want to help people … to become thrifty shoppers,” Omiros said. He worries about rising costs and hopes the money saved by shopping at the thrift store can instead be used to cover gas or utility bills.

“Gas drives virtually everything,” Omiros said. “When gas goes up, everything starts going up. I worry about it because I know people can’t afford that. If they can’t afford the gas, they can’t afford to go to work. It’s just this spiral.”

That concern is one reason Omiros is focused on increasing community outreach. He wants people to know Food Helpers is there for everyone in need, especially those who don’t qualify for traditional government food assistance programs.

“I saw Food Helpers, and the former Greater Washington County Food Bank, as the greatest-known secret in the community,” Omiros said. “People really don’t know about the organization. We have individuals who have known about it and have supported it financially for years, and those that are in need know to come here. But pushing that information out is critical.”

The more people who know Food Helpers is there – to feed, to clothe and to teach – the more people Omiros and his staff of employees and volunteers can help, and the more quickly the nonprofit can eliminate hunger in the community.

Omiros said that also includes those from neighboring counties.

“My vision for the food bank is to expand our reach,” he said. “We don’t turn people away because of where they’re from. We don’t ask for income verification.

“We are the greater Washington County – the word ‘greater’ really gives us the opportunity to say, ‘hey, let’s think beyond Washington County if need be.'”