As gas prices rise and the cost of living continues to climb, putting a holiday meal on the table isn\u2019t easy for everyone. That\u2019s why events like the Erie Free Store\u2019s Free-ster Dinner are so important for families.<\/p>\n
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Since 2021, community members have lined up for this Easter tradition. Organizers said they saw a need during the holiday season and wanted to step in to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew that there weren’t very many meals around the Easter season, so we thought it was something nice that we could do once a year,\u201d said Breanna Adams of the Erie Free Store. \u201cWe have the kitchen space and great community partners to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The free meal gives neighbors a chance to enjoy a home-cooked dinner together, and this year, organizers added in-person seating to encourage more people to stay and enjoy the meal together.<\/p>\n
Attendees said it\u2019s about more than just the food. \u201cI like the food and the people. They\u2019re all my neighbors,\u201d said Frank Coozola.<\/p>\n
After dinner, families could enjoy raffles, crafts, and photos with the Easter Bunny.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite thing is taking a picture with the rabbit,\u201d said Coozola.<\/p>\n
The Erie Free Store, located on Elmwood Avenue, has been serving the community for a decade and is now celebrating its ten year anniversary. Organizers hope events like this continue to make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really about getting to see everybody and spreading the word about what we do, maybe in a new way\u201d, said Adams.<\/p>\n
The Erie Free Store is open Mondays from 4:30 to 7:00 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As gas prices rise and the cost of living continues to climb, putting a holiday meal on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[27497,18256,64080,136,71409,138,137,71410,27428,71411],"class_list":{"0":"post-157694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-community-meal","9":"tag-crafts","10":"tag-easter-bunny","11":"tag-erie","12":"tag-erie-free-store","13":"tag-erie-headlines","14":"tag-erie-news","15":"tag-free-ster-dinner","16":"tag-holiday-meal","17":"tag-raffle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}