SCRANTON -- A room inside Scranton Federation of Teachers offices in downtown Scranton is filled with food. It took less than 24 hours to collect it all.
"Unfortunately, the negotiations aren't going as well as this is, this food drive is going tremendously well, the negotiations are not," said Scranton Federation of Teachers President Rosemary Boland.
Boland said teachers decided to collect food items as their strike wore on since thousands of their students rely on free or reduced lunches in school.
"I have a job to do and my job is to get a collective bargaining agreement finished. That's my job. The teachers want to go back to work. The professionals want to be in the classroom with the kids because every day this is what they see," Boland added.
Teachers also collected food at West Scranton High School as well where many of them were picketing Thursday.
Community members and parents stopped by to drop off food at the school on Luzerne Street. The food collected at both spots is being dropped off at food pantries throughout the city which are struggling during the teachers strike.
"I think we just care about the kids. I think that we just want the best for them and we don't want them to be affected by this. The decisions going on with the adults, I think the kids need to come first," said fifth grade teacher Megan Judge.