Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center held an emergency food pantry Monday afternoon at Hilltop Manor Apartments on Belvedere Drive in Scranton. The pantry was to benefit residents of the Scranton Housing Authority property who were affected by power outages caused by severe weather. The pop-up pantry provided meat, milk and fresh produce for Hilltop residents. The weekend storms were typical of the severe weather the entire region has had to contend with so far in July. The National Weather Service reported nearly 2½ inches of rain for the three-day holiday period of Friday through Sunday, plus another 1½ inches Monday; it’s been the fourth-wettest opening five days of July in 126 years of recordkeeping. And the average temperature for the month through Sunday was 80.8 — the third-warmest average on record for that period. The Scranton area tied two warm-weather daily records during the period: the high of 98 on Thursday and the overnight low of 72 on Wednesday.
Volunteer Izabelle Wenrich, 10, hands eggs to a resident in the food pantry set up by the Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center at Hilltop Manor in Scranton’s southside Monday, July 6, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)