Editor's Note: The location of Ollie's Restaurant has been updated in the copy of this web article to reflect that it is in Edwardsville.
EDWARDSVILLE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A nonprofit in Luzerne County is asking for the community's help in its fight against childhood hunger.
The stove tops are hot cooking up meals at Ollie’s Restaurant in Edwardsville, but these aren’t being served at the restaurant.
They’re getting packed up to be delivered to children in need, all part of the non-profit, Dinners 4 Kids.
“It feeds approximately 240 kids a day, six days a week,” said Bob Borwick, CEO, Dinners 4 Kids.“We travel throughout parts of Wilkes-Barre, the Back Mountain, and the West Side communities as well,” Borwick continued.
The organization was started in 2011 by the original owners of Ollie’s, David and Edna Tevet. Borwick took it over when his son bought the restaurant.
“In our area alone in Luzerne County, there’s approximately 10,000 kids that are food deprived so that is very disconcerting so we hope that we feed enough kids that they’ll do better in school, they will be more alert,” said Borwick.
The process of packing up the food is like a well-oiled machine, cranking out about 1,500 meals a week.
“You don’t realize that there is such a need for these food-insecure children in our Wyoming Valley.” Tracey Shemo, board member/meal coordinator, Dinners 4 Kids.
Each meal checks off the nutritional values of starch, protein, veggies, and fruits.
“We have drivers come between 2:30 and 3 o’clock and then they come and take each route and then they go deliver the meals to each child’s house,” said Shemo.
With nearly 250 kids relying on their meals each week, the non-profit is in desperate need of more volunteers to expand its footprint in the region.
“We could use a lot more drivers. If you could do it once a week, once a month, we could use all the help we could get,” said Shemo.
If you would like to donate money or your time as a volunteer to ‘Dinners 4 Kids’ you can head to https://dinners4kids.org/volunteer/ for more details.
