A story about nearly “bare cupboards” at the Wayne County Food Pantry has generated a generous response from the community, said Carleen Faatz, Director of Community Services at the Area Agency on Aging.  In addition to full barrels of donated food, a local resort came in Friday with a check for $5,000.
The money was contributed by Cove Haven Resort in Lakeville. Mark Saari, Director of Marketing at Cove Haven, said they read The Wayne Independent article and the management team at Cove Haven decided to help. Cove Haven Resort generally finds ways to help in the community, including conducting food drives and toy drives during the holidays.
 Kathleen Terry, Director of the Wayne County Food Pantry, stated that current economic conditions combined to hurt the Food Pantry in three ways. Family budgets are already stretched thin, so food donations are down. Food prices are up, making it harder to make purchases that will go far enough. Lastly, participation is up. The Pantry has seen an increase of over 40 new families during the Thanksgiving distribution.
They gave out 425 bags of food for Thanksgiving. These included turkeys and all the trimmings.
 The Pantry helps over 500 income-eligible families stretch their budgets each month. Julie Doyle, who served as Pantry director for eight years, said that participation in the program has notably increased over the last few years.
Terry commented about the donation from Cove Haven, “The Wayne County Food Pantry is fortunate to have such caring and active neighborhood businesses and we thank Cove Haven for their commitment to this community.”
The article appeared in the November 15th Wayne Independent. The story noted that there are about 30 food barrels set up at businesses, through the WNEP-TV “Feed-a Friend” program. Many barrels were half full. Faatz noted that since then they were getting calls that the barrels were full, and the food needed to be picked up.
The Wayne County Food Program relies on U.S. Government-donated foods,  a modest amount of funds from the state, and local government. Donations from the community provide an important supplement to their shelves.
Doyle said that holiday bags are given out by referral only, to ensure that the Food Pantry reaches the neediest people. Referrals are accepted from clergy, social service organizations and community representatives. Holiday “baskets” are also give out at Christmas and Easter.
There are five distribution sites for the Food Pantry in Wayne County, at Damascus, Honesdale, Lakeville, Lakewood and Newfoundland. Current income eligibility guidelines start at $1,300 a month for a household of one person, and $1,750 for two people. Registration is required. Participants must reside in Wayne County.
Gently used clothing as well as nonperishable food donations are welcome. Faatz said they recently received food collected by St. Vincent School, Damascus School and Preston Area School.
For more information on how to donate to the Wayne County Food Pantry, to register or other information, contact Kathleen Terry at (570)253-4646, 253-4262 or e-mail, kterry@co.wayne.pa.us.