tuff the Bus for the Pawling Resource Center a Great Success
By Susan Stone
Stuff the Bus, a joint project of Pawling Rotary, Hannaford’s, the Pawling Central School District, and the Pawling Resource Center, took place on July 24th, and was a rousing success. With the school bus parked outside of Hannaford’s from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., grocery shopping community members, proved once again, that Pawling is a place of great generosity and good will.
944 pounds of toiletries and food was loaded into the bus, along with 254 rolls of toilet paper, 1,750 napkins, 1,514 baby wipes, 49 boxes of tissues, and 1,223 Diapers. In total, 4,885 paper items were donated. Additionally, monetary donations were collected, as well as Hannaford gift cards.
The day was made possible by the many hours of volunteer service provided by Rotary members Kim Fontana, Brian Avery, Lori Johnson, Jeff Asher, Earl Crawford, as well as Ann Godesky and Susan Stone, who also serve on the PRC board, along with PRC Board member Hal Clark, also in attendance. Pam Serafini not only drove the school bus, but actively donated her time to stuffing the bus as well as unloading, and PRC volunteers Luis Montedeosca, son of board member Miguel Calle, along with Delia Willis and Mike Gannon, lined up to unload and stock shelves, as well. Phil Prout from the Pawling Free Library and his group of teens from Project Do Something, which included Julianna Alexandra and Sarah Knowles, and Anthony Benedetto, helped to unpack the bus and shelve items at the PRC.
Resource Center Executive Director, Terry Ariano, was available throughout the day and could be found both in the bus stuffing process at Hannaford’s, unloading, and restocking PRC food pantry shelves. She shared, “The PRC is so fortunate to be supported by the generous community of Pawling, who are always willing to help us help our neighbors keep food on their table. It is an incredible feeling to see the generosity of people in helping us stuff the bus with crucial items during this annual event!”
Information about upcoming events and ways in which to donate may be found on the PRC website at http://pawlingresourcecenter.org.
