{"id":59540,"date":"2025-12-12T21:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/59540\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T21:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:57:08","slug":"pittston-launches-local-food-pantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/59540\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittston launches local food pantry"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSTON \u2014 With the stresses of the holidays here, people in Pittston are banding together to help families make ends meet.<\/p>\n

The Pittston City Food Distribution Pantry held its inaugural food distribution Thursday. The city Office of Community Development partnered with the CEO Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank and the Downtown Pittston Partnership to create the pantry, which will operate monthly to try and help meet the needs of everyone in the Pittston area.<\/p>\n

The inaugural distribution Thursday was held at the John P. Cosgrove Center of the Pittston Memorial Library. City officials and employees, Weinberg Northeast, and the Pittston Area football team set up and ran the food bank.<\/p>\n

\"JimmyJimmy Tighe, a junior member of the Pittston Area football team, distrubutes grapes during the launch of the Pittston City Food Distribution Pantry at the Pittston Memorial Library on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Mayor Michael Lombardo thanked the volunteers from the city and football team, as well Weinberg Northeast, for their willingness to come together for the benefit of the community. He said the charity on display Thursday was especially important during the holiday season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe holidays are a great time and it\u2019s great to see people have their priorities and want to help and volunteer for the community,\u201d Lombardo said. \u201cThat\u2019s the way things get done, working together\u2026.It\u2019s all hands on deck to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathy Lockman, of CEO Weinberg Northeast, said she was glad the food bank could help stock the pantry. Among the items available were ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, milk, peanut butter, pasta, cauliflower, and canned fruit.<\/p>\n

\"KaydenKayden Bailey, a freshman member of the Pittston Area football team, hands out boxes of pasta during the launch of the Pittston City Food Distribution Pantry at the Pittston Memorial Library on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just proud of the partnership we have here with the city of Pittman and all of the wonderful volunteers that help serve the community, especially during these trying times,\u201d Lockman said. \u201cWe\u2019re just very proud to be able to present food from the CEO Weinberg food bank to help make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy City Administrator Mary Kroptavich took the initiative in organizing the creation of the pantry. She said the recent federal government shutdown, which had put funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, in jeopardy, led to more food insecurity in the area. To meet this increased need, Kroptavich said the city contacted CEO Weinberg Northeast to establish a local monthly food distribution. She said 125 people registered within two weeks to attend the pantry\u2019s distribution Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the holidays, in itself,\u00a0 are a very difficult time for people,\u201d Kroptavich said. \u201cI think that, on top of all of those cuts, we\u2019ve seen a bigger increase\u2026.There\u2019s definitely, you can see, a need for this in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GavinGavin Migliori, a senior member of the Pittston Area football team, sorts through potatoes during the launch of the Pittston City Food Distribution Pantry at the Pittston Memorial Library on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely going to be doing more of it,\u201d city Office of Community Development Director Shannon Bonacci said.<\/p>\n

Theresa Miller, who grew up in Pittston, came to the food pantry to collect food for her child and for a woman with children whose car broke down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does help out with the community, with Christmas coming around and everything,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThis year, with the high school, they\u2019ve been volunteering a lot and that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The football players volunteering said they were glad to work as a team in service of the community.<\/p>\n

\"PittstonPittston Deputy City Administrator Mary Kroptavich hands out food at Thursday’s food pantry. (CHRISTOPHER DOYLE\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just nice to\u2026spend time with my teammates and just provide for this Pittston area,\u201d said Patriots linebacker and running back Kayden Bailey, a Pittston Area freshman. \u201cIt\u2019s a great town. It\u2019s great people that live around here and we\u2019re just creating bonds and always just giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to help my team and my community.\u201d said Patriots offensive and defensive lineman J.J. Grochal, a Pittston Area junior. \u201cI grew up with most of these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Holl, who is both Pittston Area assistant football coach and a city tax clerk, said he was glad to be able to volunteer on behalf of both groups Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live here, work here,\u201d Holl said. \u201cI want to see people happy in the valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love doing this for the community,\u201d added Patriots offensive and defensive lineman Braden Walsh, a Pittston Area junior. \u201cI used to be a Cub Scout, so this is my background to do this. So, I\u2019m really grateful\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.J.J.J. Grochal, a junior member of the Pittston Area football team, hands out a bag of potatoes during the launch of the Pittston City Food Distribution Pantry at the Pittston Memorial Library on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

City residents who collected from the pantry Thursday said they appreciated the city efforts and the selflessness shown by volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is very nice, that the city is doing this for everyone,\u201d city resident Paula Gogas said. \u201cI think it\u2019s beautiful that the kids volunteered and this was very organized. It was so easy to get into and everybody was so helpful all the way around. I just think it\u2019s beautiful,\u201d<\/p>\n

Kroptavich said those interested in volunteering can contact the city. Those interested in collecting from the pantry are encouraged to preregister at https:\/\/www.pittstoncity.gov\/community-development\/page\/pittston-city-food-distribution-pantry. A calendar found on the pre-registration page will list future pantry dates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSTON \u2014 With the stresses of the holidays here, people in Pittston are banding together to help families…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[182,803,139,28,2485,178,180,179,802],"class_list":{"0":"post-59540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-local-news","9":"tag-luzerne-county","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-pittston","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news","16":"tag-top-stories-cvc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59540","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=59540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}