SCIOTA, Pa. — The food pantry at Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network in Sciota is filled with meals ready to go out to kids' homes on summer break.
The food pantry has a distribution once a week and volunteers have seen a lot of families stopping by for meals.
"We were expecting about 150 kids per week, and right now, we have about 450 kids per week, so we did 3500 lunches in June alone. So we are expecting a super high number of kids coming through," said PVEN Director Colleen Walsh.
From summer lunches to back to school, Director Colleen Walsh says the food pantry is gearing up for its back-to-school extravaganza in August. They expect to help more than 200 students.
"It's really hard for kids to show up to school without the materials they need, and we don't want them to show up with materials that aren't as good as their classmates because they can't afford them. So we like to get kids on a level playing field so that everyone has the same amount of supplies," explained Walsh.
Walsh says PVEN needs help collecting school supplies to set students up for a successful year.
So, they are putting out the call even earlier this year.
"So any kind of supplies that you need for your kid, we need for ours, so backpacks, pencils, pens, notebooks, folders. We are also collecting new socks and underwear as well as brand-new sneakers," said Walsh.
Families who live in the 6 townships of Monroe County's West End, including Chestnut Hill, Eldred, Hamilton, Jackson, Ross, and Polk, are asked to pre-register if they're in need of supplies.