RailRiders Zach Greene and Edgar Barclay help out at the crafts table to decorate STEM boxes.
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STEM boxes decorated by the children using pizza boxes to create solar mini ovens to toast s’mores.
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Amy Arcangeletti, left, and Sarah Arcangeletti enjoy the day at Duryea’s Food and Fun at the Park program on Aug. 3.
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Lennae Thompson Pellam, of the YMCA, gives a helping hand at Duryea’s Food and Fun at the Park on Aug. 3.
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RailRider Matt Bowman gives a helping hand during Food and Fun at the Park day at Duryea.
Submitted photo
DURYEA – Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players volunteered at the Duryea Food and Fun at the Park program in Duryea on Thursday, Aug. 3.
Players helped with the activities of the day: a CEO food distribution, yummy lunch consumption, a STEM project, and of course, playing on the basketball courts, playground and all around.
Food and Fun at the Park, an eight-week program organized by the Greater Wyoming Valley Area YMCA, provides local kids free summer lunches and snacks, as well as park or playground supervision at nine sites throughout Luzerne County from 10 a.m. to noon.
Many Luzerne County children rely on free or reduced lunches during the school year, posing a dilemma to families during the summer when access to these lunches end. This year has challenged families due to the continued high cost of food. A number of Food and Fun program sites have also hosted Food Box distributions weekly for families to take home.
At each program site, Food and Fun at the Park is the result of many partners working together, including Mt. Zion Food Services, which is the lunch sponsor, the Greater Wyoming Valley Area YMCA, and program funders such as the United Way of Wyoming Valley.
The event on Thursday in Duryea illustrates many partners working together at just one site, including the Borough of Duryea, the Railriders, the YMCA, Mt. Zion Food Services, and CEO, and others.
The result of all of the community coming together is happy children. They enjoyed playing basketball with the RailRiders, and with the STEM project, using individual pizza boxes to create solar mini-ovens to toast s’mores.
For more information about the program, or program sites please see the Y’s website at https://wvymca.org/food-fun-at-the-park/.
