When you're struggling to provide even a basic meal for your family, meat can be beyond your reach. And it's not something donors typically give to food banks and pantries that help the hungry.

But a 2.5-ton delivery Thursday of fresh deli meats, sausages and cheese from a southeastern Pennsylvania company will help to provide part of 10,000 meals for people in northwestern Pennsylvania.

More:Food insecurity is on the rise. Here's how it's affecting Erie County

"We are thrilled to receive a donation such as this," said Karen Seggi, chief executive officer of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania. "Meat products are often requested through our member agencies because it is the most expensive part of a meal and unfortunately many families struggle to provide even the simplest meals. It is very rewarding to be able to help families in this manner."

Dietz & Watson, a Philadelphia-based premium deli meat and cheese company, in conjunction with its local retail supermarket partner Giant Eagle, provided more than 5,000 pounds of meats and cheeses to Second Harvest in Erie. Seggi said it would help people in the area who are experiencing difficult times.

The food bank at 1507 Grimm Drive will make the deli cuts available to its 79 member food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in Erie County, Seggi said, and to food pantries in 10 more northwestern Pennsylvania counties. They will use it to pack in grocery bags for people to prepare meals at home or for soup kitchens and shelters to prepare meals on site, she said.

"Since a person typically consumes one-half pound of meat per meal, this donation can be used in 10,000 meals," Seggi said.

The donations were part of Dietz & Watson's Families Helping Families program that is in its fourth year. The program is run in conjunction with supermarkets, including Giant Eagle in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.

Based on a percentage of shopper purchases of Dietz & Watson products in the meat and deli departments at stores such as Giant Eagle, a donation was made to the charity selected by each retailer. The latest program ran from early November through mid-December, according to a news release.

Steve Riley, communications and partnership manager for Dietz & Watson, said Erie was the last of six cities in which the company had been making donations since February. Earlier events were held in Pittsburgh and in Youngstown, Columbus, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.

The company donated more than 30,000 pounds of food to distributing agencies in the six cities, said Michelle Denk, who works in strategic sales for Dietz & Watson. Denk represented the company and Giant Eagle at Second Harvest in Erie during a brief ceremony after the food was delivered by tractor-trailer Thursday morning. 

"I feel like it’s a blessing to have a workday like this," Denk said.

More:Times Old Newsies raise $45,000 during annual donation drive

Erie-based Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania had received previous donations through the Dietz & Watson program but they weren't as large as this year's, Riley said. He said sales of Dietz & Watson products were up in part due to promotion of the program by stores but also because of the coronavirus pandemic. With fewer people eating out during COVID-19 and more likely to buy grab-and-go products from grocery stores, the company saw a little more sales success, Riley said. That meant it was able to increase the donation.

"We know not everybody was having good financial times during the pandemic," he said. "That's why we stepped up the donation."

Riley said Dietz & Watson not only has an ongoing relationship with Second Harvest, but wanted to work with the agency that had the biggest reach locally.

"They do the most," he said about Second Harvest here.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania is the largest nonprofit food distribution organization in northwest Pennsylvania and the only food bank in the region, according to its website. It serves 11 counties: Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango, Forest, Clarion, McKean, Elk, Cameron, Jefferson and Clearfield. The food bank distributed 11,466,265 pounds of food in fiscal year 2019-20, according to an annual report/brochure on the website.

As a food bank, Second Harvest solicits, collects, stores and distributes food to other agencies in an effort to alleviate hunger.

"Meat and protein donations are few and far between," Seggi said. She added that the Dietz & Watson donation came at a time when many of Second Harvest's member agencies were requesting meat items from its inventory.

The food bank typically has to purchase meat and protein items, she said.

"Last year, Second Harvest received almost 5 million pounds of donated food," Seggi said. "Of that, only 9% were meat products."

She called the Dietz & Watson donation "a blessing because it allows us to use our resources to secure other food items." She also said that Giant Eagle is one of the food bank's strongest partners.

Dietz & Watson's Riley said the company's donation featured a variety of products that haven't reached their expiration date. He said some could be distributed now and some could be frozen for later use.

Meats in the donation included imported natural prosciutto, smoked turkey breast fillet, maple cured ham steak and gourmet lite beef franks.

Reporter Valerie Myers contributed to this story.

Contact Dana Massing at dmassing@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmassing.