EASTER GIVING
Communities come together for massive gift drive
>> Dozens of families are being reminded Easter goes beyond the baskets of chocolate bunnies they received.
The spirit of the springtime holiday was surely blooming with every donation of a colorful basket or an Easter ham that found its way to places like the Daily Bread Community Food Pantry in Lower Providence, the Lower Providence Optimist Club, Laurel House and the Patrician Society in Norristown.
“Judge Rebar delivered 50 baskets to us and we’re getting a whole flatbed of food delivered today, hams and dry goods,” said LeeAnn Rooney, executive director of the Patrician Society on Wednesday. “We’ve been so blessed. We’ve had so many people donating food during the pandemic and now for Easter people are donating for their Lenten drives. Pope John Paul II just did a food drive for us. St Philip Neri in Lafayette Hill donated Redner’s gift cards. A young girl Sarah from Gwynedd Mercy ran a food drive and they came
down last week to deliver it. People are just coming out of the woodwork and wanting to donate. It’s been really wonderful.”
Hams would be given out during regular pantry hours on Thursday, 1 to 3 p.m., on a first-come, firstserved basis Rooney said.
Demand for food had dropped slightly recently due to increased Snap benefits, she added.
“We saw a slight decline. But the need is still there for those who don’t have the Snap benefits.”
The Easter Drive followed the natural evolution of a group of people bonded by a need to help others
“My group of people who are helping with my campaign all came together and collected 261 Easter baskets, 82 hams and about 2,000 pounds of food,” explained Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar.
“We had a bunch of organizations that we ended up helping because the drive was so successful, but it started off with the focus just being on the Daily Bread Community Food Pantry in Lower Providence and businesses from all over the area participated by donating.”
For Christmas the volunteers collected dozens of dinners for families and gift cards for a turkey or ham, and then delivered the food.
“That same group of people came together for this drive and our (original) goal was 50 baskets and 50 dinners and the pantry said they could take up to 100, so the first 100 Easter Baskets and 100 boxes of food were delivered to the Daily Bread Pantry, 40 Easter Baskets to the Methacton Backpack
Program, 40 Easter Baskets to the Laurel House, which helps victims of Domestic Violence, 60 Easter Baskets and roughly 900 pounds of food to the Patrician Society in Norristown and 10 Easter Baskets to the Lower Providence Optimist Club.”
For the most part, the donated baskets were fully assembled Easter baskets, Rebar noted.
“These were pretty impressive Easter baskets. People really took the time and effort. We requested that they be assembled because that makes the process easier, and they were beautiful. Some people purchased pre-made baskets and we felt some of them weren’t as full as the ones people made, so we broke those down and collected two of them into one and supplemented them with loose candy. So every child had a very substantial Easter basket. We felt very strongly that every basket should have a chocolate Easter bunny, so our group
went out and purchased about 15 chocolate bunnies. We took everything to the fire house in Lower Providence and they were
very helpful. The community businesses were just incredible the way they came together.”
The huge success of the group’s latest endeavor demonstrates the strength of every member pitching in to help, Rebar said.
“We are a group of community members from the greater Collegeville Area (Lower Providence Township, Worcester, Collegeville Borough, Trappe and Limerick primarily). We have been performing community service functions as a group for about 12 years, over time the group has expanded and in the past few years we have materialized into a solid network of local people and businesses who are committed to helping those in need. Primarily, our group is organized and run by myself, Zenon Janicki and Christine Charles, though there are many others who actively support and contribute and without whom we would not succeed in the ways we have. Zenon Janicki is the owner of Janicki Party Rentals. The business was all but eliminated by the restrictions imposed by COVID. But instead of focusing on himself, Zenon took on a front facing role in community service locally. He began the regular ‘Trailer Drive’ where he would use his party rental trailer to collect food for other families in need and he spent countless hours and drive time delivering the items.”
Janicki assists with many community service organizations, most notably Kelly’s Kidz, a foundation started by Fox news personality Bob Kelly, Rebar added.
“Zenon is the boots on the ground and soul of what we were able to do with this Easter Drive. Our group Greater Collegeville Community Partners is an amazing collaboration capable of harvesting resources in the community like no other. Our group combines people with differing political views, backgrounds, race, culture and religious views who come together with one purpose to help those in need. As the local judge (I have been in this position for 12 years and will be moving into my third term) I have committed myself to helping our community in any way I can and that includes aiding those in need of help outside the courtroom. I believe that my work through the court and the confidence that has evolved in our local community leaders from our fire departments, police departments, our incredible local businesses, and local elected officials has helped us unify as a greater community to help others.”
Although the volunteers have been organizing drives and service for more than a decade, the Easter Drive was special in the way it brought attention to their work, Rebar noted.
“As a whole our group involves many local businesses in our work and they are always willing to step up to help, (including) Collegeville Italian Bakery, Tosco’s, Via Roma Pizza, Aqua Bistro, and the others mentioned that have been strong partners to our group in helping serve others. These are local businesses who routinely help and are galvanizing as a non-partisan group of people who set aside all political and other differences for the greater good.”
The group is currently working on formalizing its efforts, Rebar allowed.
“We are transforming my campaign committee, since I have no opposition, to a formal 501C which will probably be named Greater Collegeville Area Community Partners,” Rebar said. “We feel that formalization of our community group will help us become more firmly rooted and provide a greater expansion to our group and work.”