HONESDALE, Pa. — One piece of wood and a screw at a time, volunteers spent the day building a new shed for the Wayne County Food Pantry Program in Honesdale.
"It's going to be used to house our forklift and all equipment that we need for our new freezer. Our main campus is across town, so we need to have the equipment to get food in and out of the freezer," said Clarissa Wimmers, Wayne County Food Pantry coordinator.
It's all in memory of Luke Parry, who was a volunteer at the food pantry and worked at the Home Depot in Honesdale. Parry unexpectedly passed away last year.
The food pantry system serves more than 700 families. They say the freezer was needed to store items for their growing list of families in need. Parry's coworkers say he was all about finding ways to help.
"He volunteered several days a month, and he would always come to us and say, 'I need a couple days off. I'd like to volunteer at the food pantry.' And he was an all-around good guy; everyone loved him," said John Grund, assistant manager at the Honesdale Home Depot.
Among those volunteers are employees of Home Depot.
"I think he would be amazed, very happy. It's awesome."
Those who knew Parry say this shed is something he would have loved to have been a part of creating.
"I think it really warms our hearts. He was just such a good guy. Some of his family members stopped by this morning. It was great to see them and to have them know that we are doing right by him for the community," Grund said.
The materials for the shed were donated by Home Depot.