Dealing with increased costs and rising demand, the leaders of several local nonprofit organizations stressed financial support is more important than ever on Giving Tuesday this year.
Angela Bassani, president and CEO of the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties, stressed each donation makes a difference.
“Every dollar stays local, so it means you’re helping your neighbors, the people you pass in the grocery stores that are having a hard time getting by, facing something in their lives,” she said. “The challenges are greater than ever, especially after we’re just coming off a state and federal budget impasse. People are struggling more than they have in many years, it seems.”
Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 with a simple premise: a day that encourages people to do good. Since then, the global movement has strived to unleash the power of “radical generosity” around the world.
While Giving Tuesday highlights the work of nonprofits around the holidays, Bassani noted small contributions spread out throughout the year keep the organizations running.
“The ripple effect is enormous,” she said. “I think sometimes people think that if they can only give a couple dollars it’s not doing much, but when you add that up with hundreds of other people who are also giving a few dollars it really does add up, and it’s substantial. It’s such a lifesaver. That small act of kindness means someone gets to keep their heat on, someone gets to have food, or a child gets school supplies that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Lexis Tonkin, postpartum doula at Outreach – Center for Community Resources on N. 7th Ave. in Scranton, organizes toys on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The group is setting up a “Toyland” room where families enrolled in an Outreach program can come and pick out gifts for the kids for the holidays. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Toys are laid out at Outreach – Center for Community Resources on N. 7th Ave. in Scranton on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The group is setting up a “Toyland” room where families enrolled in an Outreach program can come and pick out gifts for the kids for the holidays. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Angel Seibert, program director at Outreach – Center for Community Resources on N. 7th Ave. in Scranton organizes toys on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The group is setting up a “Toyland” room where families enrolled in an Outreach program can come and pick out gifts for the kids for the holidays. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Lexis Tonkin, postpartum doula at Outreach – Center for Community Resources on N. 7th Ave. in Scranton, organizes books on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The group is setting up a “Toyland” room where families enrolled in an Outreach program can come and pick out gifts for the kids for the holidays. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Toys are laid out at Outreach – Center for Community Resources on N. 7th Ave. in Scranton on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The group is setting up a “Toyland” room where families enrolled in an Outreach program can come and pick out gifts for the kids for the holidays. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Lexis Tonkin, postpartum doula at Outreach – Center for Community Resources on N. 7th Ave. in Scranton, organizes toys on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The group is setting up a “Toyland” room where families enrolled in an Outreach program can come and pick out gifts for the kids for the holidays. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Tracey Selingo, founder and interim executive director of Edwardsville-based Fork over Love, started the nonprofit nearly five years ago and has been pleased with the development.
Through November, more than 104,000 free meals have been served in Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming counties through the collaboration with other nonprofits and neighborhoods, officials said.
“We started in January 2021 in order to bridge the gap between independent restaurants and residents who were both struggling to put food on the table for very different reasons, and we’ve organically grown in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties over the years,” she said. “We’ve partnered with over 100 independent restaurants to serve food in a number of different communities. Today, we have 32 certified restaurant partners between both counties and we partner with over 30 nonprofits to deliver food on a weekly, biweekly and monthly basis, and we’ve been able to reinvest more than $1 million into the independent restaurant community.”
While donations are important, Selingo added that Giving Tuesday has a dual purpose.
“It’s an incredibly important day for raising awareness about not just funding, but also spreading kindness and doing good in the community,” she said.
As the need for free meals persists, Selingo hopes to continue filling the void.
“We’re happy that we’ve been able to work with the community to nourish it on a whole new level where we’re helping the local economy and helping people who are food insecure,” she said. “The numbers unfortunately just continue to rise.”
From now until the end of the year, every $10 donation puts a hot meal in someone’s hands, Selingo added.
Lori Chaffers, president and CEO of Outreach – Center for Community Resources on North Seventh Avenue in Scranton, stressed the nonprofit is part of AllOne Charities Give Day, which means Outreach will receive a dollar-for-dollar match for every dollar up to $1,000. There is also $70,000 worth of prizes available for the participating nonprofits, she added.
“For us, that’s a huge opportunity to really have a critical impact on our budget this year,” she said.
Outreach hopes to raise about $30,000 through its annual end-of-the-year campaign, making a successful Giving Tuesday vital this year, Chaffers said.
“It’s probably more important than ever, because with the state budget impasse just finally getting passed about a week-and-a-half ago, money is just starting to trickle in,” she said. “Anything that comes in is really going to carry us through the end of the year. Just like everybody else, our prices have gone up. We’re feeling the crunch of the burden of tariffs and inflation — everything from our electric bill to our health care has gone up, and our money hasn’t. These dollars are critically important for us to sustain the services but also increase them to meet the higher demand.”
While Bassani appreciates every donation Outreach receives, she just hopes people consider making a donation to any of the groups that help people throughout the region.
“There are so many phenomenal nonprofit organizations that keep our community afloat,” she said. “Whether you’re giving to Outreach or somewhere else, every one of those dollars counts to make our community safe and thriving. It’s about finding something that speaks to your heart locally, whether you want to help children or senior citizens who are struggling, or anything in between. You never know when it could be you that needs help one day.”