PINE GROVE, Pa. — Pine Grove Area Pathway is a brand new food pantry in Schuylkill County that just opened in May, and with inflation, they're seeing new issues families are facing to make ends meet.
"We had such an explosion of people that came on the first and second night, we realized, unfortunately, we had to put a higher limit on the items you could take," said Sara Barra, Pine Grove Area Pathway President.
After seeing a need in the Pine Grove community, Sara Barra has worked with her friends and family to create a food pantry that's available to everyone without an income requirement.
"The number of people we are serving is much higher than we anticipated. We really did not anticipate to have the turnout and the number of families that we have. And we believe that's because of the current economic environment," said Barra.
Sara and the other volunteers have been working since November to stock the shelves with food, cleaning, and hygiene products to help families through these hard times.
"We get things from Mission Central in Mechanicsburg, and this month for the first time, we had to contemplate is it worth driving all that way because of gas prices to go pick up the donations," said Barra.
To keep on providing such an essential service to Schuylkill County Pine Grove Area Pathway Is asking the local community for any monetary or item donations.
"We are supplementing the donations that we get through monetary donations. Every penny that we have to spend on gas is a penny less that we have to spend on food," said Barra.
If you would like to volunteer or donate to Pine Grove Area Pathway, head to their Facebook page by clicking here.
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