![\"Volunteer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-PANTRY-0530-03.jpg\")
Volunteer Lola Kranick, left, and Vice President Kristen Warholic, right, pack bags at the Valley Village of Volunteers\u2019 food pantry in the Dickson City Community Building on Thursday, May 28, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have about 120 families that come through (and) about 270 individuals represent those family makeups,\u201d Valley Village of Volunteers Vice President Kristen Warholic said of the food pantry. \u201cOver 50% of the people that come through our line are elderly, living on pensions or Social Security, and it doesn\u2019t really go far, so without having a food pantry to help support and supplement their needs there would be times that they wouldn\u2019t have anything on their table.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also have a population of people who\u2019ve lost their jobs,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey\u2019re coming through the line for the first time almost upset that they have to be there, but we try to provide them with support to let them know that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for. There\u2019s nothing to be ashamed of. We\u2019re here to support them and help them through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal of supporting neighbors in need is what originally motivated the volunteers during the pandemic, when they began delivering free groceries to senior citizens in Olyphant unable to leave their homes amid the public health crisis. That early effort then expanded into an impromptu food pantry serving the Midvalley community from borrowed space in Olyphant\u2019s ambulance building on East Park Street before later relocating to Dickson City in late 2022, after a relatively brief hiatus, Board Member Lola Kranick confirmed.<\/p>\n
![\"Cans](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-PANTRY-0530-01.jpg\")
Cans sit on a shelf at the Valley Village of Volunteers\u2019 food pantry in Dickson City Community Building on Thursday, May 28, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
The Valley Village of Volunteers registered as a nonprofit and took steps in the intervening time to become an official affiliated food pantry with the CEO\/Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank, the source of much of the food it distributes biweekly. But the group also fundraises and otherwise works to supplement what Weinberg supplies so it\u2019s able to provide full grocery bags to the people it serves, sometimes with the support of local companies, Warholic said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year we actually had no meat for two months,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had two local companies, Envy Electrical and Kleinbauer Mechanical, both of them donated meat for us \u2026 and that sustained us for three different distributions. So we rely heavily on that type of community involvement as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Saturdays when the pantry is active, volunteers arrive early to start packing the food for distribution. The goal is to provide families and other beneficiaries with a bag of dry goods, a bag of produce and a bag of frozen products, including a protein.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only every two weeks, but we try to get at least two or three meals for the families packed that they can use to supplement their needs,\u201d Warholic said. \u201cWe are able to get milk once a month, so we actually use our fundraising efforts to get milk for the other week in the month.\u201d<\/p>\n
Milk is just one of the many examples of key items the nonprofit raises funds to acquire for those it serves.<\/p>\n
![\"(Left](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/STT-L-PANTRY-0530-04.jpg\")
(Left to right) Valley Village of Volunteers members Victor Milani, Treasurer Jack Horvath, Vice President Kristen Warholic, Lola Kranick, Mary Ann Eglesia, Debbie Borusiewicz and Mariella Selvenis pose in the group\u2019s food pantry at the Dickson City Community Building on Thursday, May 28, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
Asked about the upward pressure on grocery prices, Kranick noted the relatively large number of older adults on fixed incomes who rely on and benefit from the pantry.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I go to the store, I\u2019m amazed at how much things cost,\u201d she said. \u201cThat increase came on groceries and produce but it didn\u2019t come on a Social Security check.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Valley Village of Volunteers welcomes any support that will help it meet its mission, be that on the volunteer side or in the form of monetary donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we also would like community support,\u201d Warholic said, again referencing the Envy Electrical and Kleinbauer Mechanical donations. \u201cWe need more of that to support the initiative to really fill in those gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Individuals looking to volunteer or donate to the organization can reach out via its Facebook page or by emailing vvvnepa@gmail.com. The Valley Village of Volunteers is also one of the many nonprofits participating in the annual NEPA Gives 24-hour fundraising blitz that kicks off Thursday at 7 p.m. More information is available at www.nepagives.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Income-eligible Lackawanna County residents seeking food support via the pantry can register on-site during the distributions. The next one is scheduled for Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. Subsequent distributions during the summer months will run from 10-11 a.m., beginning June 20.<\/p>\n Warholic stressed that the organization is dedicated to making sure that no family goes hungry.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re there for,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re there to help them through those challenging and difficult times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Volunteers with a local nonprofit tracing its roots to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic spend every…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1099,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,729],"class_list":["post-208557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-dickson-city","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208557","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=208557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}