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JAKE DANNA STEVENS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Items such as diapers, baby food and formula are available at St. Michael’s Orthodox Church’s Food pantry in Old Forge on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017.
JAKE DANNA STEVENS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Above: Volunteers Mary Lynn Henry and John Labrosky of Duryea at St. Michael’s Orthodox Church’s food pantry in Old Forge on Nov. 13. Below: The pantry also provides seasonal items, like Christmas cards.
A food pantry at an Old Forge church serving the borough and neighboring Taylor and Duryea had a brisk first year.
St. Michael’s Orthodox Church started a food pantry in September 2016 for needy residents of those communities.
The number of clients served has grown from the first month’s 11 families consisting of 20 people, to 54 families consisting of 121 people.
“Apparently the need is growing and growing and growing,” said pantry volunteer operator Mary Lynn Henry, the wife of the church rector, the Rev. Peter Henry. “We’re just now to the point where we need to expand our hours and staff.”
The food pantry at the church’s parish hall at 512 Winter St. opens the first Thursday and third Saturday of each month, from 11 a.m. to noon.
When the pantry opened, it helped fill a void in the area of Old Forge and some of its neighbors.
At the start, the church received a $3,000 grant from the Scranton Area Community Foundation that it used to purchase shelves and rolling tables for the pantry. Partnering with the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank in Jenkins Twp., the pantry receives nearly all of its food from that organization.
Staffed by seven parish volunteers and friends, the pantry distributes nonperishable food to recipients who meet income requirements. The ages of clients helped by the pantry range from newborns into the 80s.
The operation runs as a “choice pantry,” as clients can choose the items they want. Clients check in at a station inside the parish gym/auditorium. Volunteers then escort them into the pantry, a spick-and-span, 20-by-25-foot room containing several shelves stocked with canned and packaged foods. The pantry also offers paper products, hygiene items and much-sought-after diapers.
“They get to pick what they need,” Mary Lynn Henry said of clients. “They go down the aisle and pick what they need.”
It all adds up to a big savings for needy clients. A bag of groceries could amount to about $40 worth of items, and families may leave with a few bags at a time, depending on the size of the families, she said.
The volunteers find their help rewarding.
John Labrosky of Duryea came aboard through an uncle who is a parishioner of the church. After repainting the pantry room, Labrosky, a local handyman, continued showing up to help.
“I love it. I like giving back to the community,” he said. “The people that come here are very appreciative of what they’re getting.”
Mary Lynn Henry said Labrosky has been a “godsend” who works very hard for the pantry.
“We absolutely love what we’re doing,” she said. “We don’t consider this a charity. We consider it a gift, and we’ve been given a gift to be able to do it.”
The food pantry accepts donations of food items and cash to buy food and supplies. What it really needs is “muscle” — manpower from volunteers, particularly in unloading and stocking supplies, she said.
Contact the writer:
jlockwood@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9100 x5185;
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For information about receiving food from the pantry, or to donate food or money, call the church office at 570-457-3703 or visit the church website at stmichaelof.org.
