Polling stations throughout Dunmore won\u2019t just be collecting ballots Tuesday \u2014 they\u2019ll be collecting food.<\/p>\n
Dunmore Borough Council and its mayor are sponsoring an Election Day food drive by setting up collection boxes at borough polling stations Tuesday where voters can drop off nonperishable food to support local food banks. Following Election Day, collection boxes at the Dunmore Community Center, 1414 Monroe Ave., will remain through Nov. 30.\n<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Katherine Mackrell Oven said she suggested the idea for the food drive, and her fellow council members and Mayor Max Conway were immediately on board. Oven is running unopposed in Tuesday\u2019s election to retain her council seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just been so much in the media about soaring food costs, government shutdowns and federal benefits like SNAP getting cut,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are really not able to make ends meet, and I think the food pantries are overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
With support from her fellow elected officials, Oven said the borough confirmed with Lackawanna County that they could collect food at the polls, and once the county gave them the OK, they worked with local businesses to help promote the food drive.<\/p>\n
Donation boxes will be at all five of Dunmore\u2019s polling locations, Oven said. Those are:<\/p>\n
Dunmore Community Center, 1414 Monroe Ave.\n<\/p>\n
Dunmore Presbyterian Church, 137 Chestnut St.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Greater Scranton YMCA, 706 N. Blakely St.\n<\/p>\n
Sherwood Youth Association Park, 700 Sherwood Ave.\n<\/p>\n
St. Rocco\u2019s Church Hall, 122 Kurtz St.\n<\/p>\n
While they are accepting all nonperishable food, Oven encouraged residents to consider dropping off food that will serve as a meal, like canned chicken noodle soup or canned meat ravioli.<\/p>\n
\u201cPractically, donating things that are more sustainable versus just a can of beans would be helpful because they really have such a need for food that will feed as a meal versus just as a side,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Borough officials plan to distribute the donated items to food pantries to support as many as they can, she said. Oven raised the idea of extending the food drive past November if it\u2019s successful, and council was agreeable to it.<\/p>\n
So far, Dunmore has received a great response, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in Dunmore have always been so generous, so I\u2019m not surprised that people jumped on board,\u201d Oven said. \u201cHopefully we can really make a difference for the local pantries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other ways to help<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in Lackawanna County, Scranton is partnering with the Scranton Area Community Foundation and the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike to hold a \u201cHeart of Scranton\u201d virtual fundraiser to address food insecurity. The virtual fundraiser began Oct. 29 and continues through Nov. 30. Donors can choose to support Meals on Wheels of NEPA, Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center, CHOP Out Hunger, Bread Basket of NEPA, Commission on Economic Opportunity, the Salvation Army and the Indigo Spoon Foundation \u2014 or contribute to the Scranton Area Community Foundation\u2019s general campaign to benefit all four, according to the fundraiser\u2019s website. To donate online, visit safdn.org\/heart.<\/a><\/p>\n Due to the delay in SNAP benefits this month, Zummo\u2019s Cafe, 916 Marion St., Scranton, is also partnering with Outreach \u2013 Center for Community Resources in Scranton to collect baby formula and other necessities to help local parents, according to a flyer for the donation drive. The most needed items are Similac Advance, Similac Sensitive, Similac Total Comfort, diapers and wipes. Zummo\u2019s will be accepting donated items throughout November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Polling stations throughout Dunmore won\u2019t just be collecting ballots Tuesday \u2014 they\u2019ll be collecting food. Dunmore Borough Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2136,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-25074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-dunmore","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news","16":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25074","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=25074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}