Pocono News Section

Food Pantry Receives Big Donation

Food Pantry Receives Big Donation - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 4:50PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 @ 04:50pm EST
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY -- Food pantry managers in the Poconos say their prayers have been answered. Someone donated new pantry space. But their joy could be short lived if they don't get some help.

This is the last time these people will have to wait out in the cold for emergency groceries. "That would be awesome!" said Eleanor Rivera of East Stroudsburg.

Rivera said she comes to the pantry because of the economy. Her husband is a truck driver. "He's just not making the income he used to make. So it's getting tougher and tougher," she said.

She and dozens of other people have to wait outside because there's no standing room in the building. There's barely space for volunteers to turn around.

But that's about to change. The pantry will move out of this crammed 400 square foot space - and into this 21 hundred square foot building.

Car dealer Jim Halterman donated this space in East Stroudsburg. "This is such a blessing for us - it really is," said Sue Reynolds of the Follow Me Foundation.

Halterman is paying for electric and heat. He's allowing the pantry to stay until he sells the property. It's going for about a million dollars. The follow me foundation hopes to collect enough money to buy it.

"We're actively still looking for funds to be able get another building," added Reynolds.

The Follow Me Foundation leaders pray more people come forward to help them help others. Sue and Jerry Reynolds founded the Follow Me Foundation in 2002.

They only had a handful of clients back then. Now they help more than 3,000 families every year.

And some area students raised more than $6,000 to help the Follow Me Foundation. Pleasant Valley High School English teacher Jacqueline Ludka dropped off the check Wednesday morning.

She said her students read Michael J. Fox's book "Always Looking Up. The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist." It inspired them to help others.

So they held a charity auction and dinner. "I cannot be more proud of any of my students that I've been teaching in nine years," she said.

The students plan to continue helping the pantry any way they can.