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Increasing Need, Decreasing Help

SCRANTON — A new food pantry opened last month in Scranton and organizers say so far it has been “too successful.” The pantry has the same pro...

SCRANTON -- A new food pantry opened last month in Scranton and organizers say so far it has been "too successful."

The pantry has the same problem that many others in Lackawanna County have: a growing number of people in need, but fewer businesses that donate.

Catholic Social Services opened its newest food pantry in downtown Scranton last month at the new St. Francis Commons facility.

It's a new kind of pantry, too. Families spend points on the types of food they want throughout the month.

However, organizers say in their first month they're already having trouble keeping the shelves stocked.

Monsignor Joseph Kelly, the director of Catholic Social Service's new food pantry on Penn Avenue in Scranton, said the two ingredients that most often run out say a lot about who the pantry is helping.

"It's the peanut butter and jelly, which should probably not be a surprise because we are dealing with so many families," Msgr. Kelly said.

Since the pantry at St. Francis Commons opened last month, Msgr. Kelly has been surprised by the number of young families who come there. They helped about 300 families with a new points-based system that works less like a hand out and more like a grocery store.

Healthier, fresh foods are fewer points, but Msgr. Kelly said they're the most difficult to get.

"Because people don't think that way. They don't realize that we have cooler space and we can actually take real fresh food."

At another food pantry across town, the freezers are bare. Friends of the Poor has a pantry that families can visit twice a month.

Director Sr. Ann Walsh said the families she sees may visit several pantries each month.

"When I first came here, we were probably seeing 30 to 40 families average per day. Now it's not unusual to have 70 to 100 families in one day, so the need has grown tremendously," Sr. Walsh said.

But the food isn't as available. Sr. Walsh says businesses she used to rely on for donations can no longer give.

"We try to put a frozen food, meat, protein, something like that in each of the bags that we give. But we haven't been able to keep up with that because the demand, the need, is so great."

Volunteers for Friends of the Poor in Scranton say the geography of needy families in Lackawanna County has changed too. They've been asked to start food pantries where they've never had them before.

Officials say there are plans to open pantries in Jermyn later this year, and maybe even in Wayne County.

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