VNA Hospice and Home Health Community Sock Donation Drive Success Every year the Christmas holiday tends to bring out the best qualities in our human race. A time for giving, placing others needs before our own, and donating a priceless gift of volunteered time. In November, our Volunteer Coordinator, Marina Pambianco, and our amazing volunteer network organized a local donation drive requesting pairs of socks to be distributed in the month of December along with Meals on Wheels food delivery. Our goal at VNA Hospice and Home Health was to collect 1000 pair of socks for those in need. This year the Visiting Nurse Association ASKED and our community ANSWERED loud and clear. We are overwhelmed with the tremendous community response. The total number of sock pairs collected for our VNA “Sox in the Box” donation collection was 3,410 pairs of socks. Yes, three thousand four hundred and ten beautiful, whimsical, uplifting, warm, and loving pairs of socks donated from various schools, patrons, churches, and community organizations in our local area. We are humbled and grateful to share this news and are especially thankful to the students and faculty who embraced this request at St Mary’s in Dunmore, LaSalle Academy in Jessup, parishioners from Queen of Angels in Jessup, Christ the King in Archbald and Eynon, Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Dunmore, Holy Cross in Olyphant and Sacred Heart in Peckville. There are so MANY WONDERFUL community members who donated to this great request and we have planned on sharing this sock bounty across Lackawanna County. Meals on Wheels will receive 2,000 pairs of socks. Therefore, each client will get 2 pairs of socks for Christmas and the rest will be distributed to local nursing homes and support agencies to brighten and uplift others this holiday season. This is a great introduction to the newly implemented, “VNA Smiles for Miles Project” which will begin for all VNA patients, families, and caregiver staff with recent funding provided by the Scranton Area Community Foundation. What a tremendous reflection of our community’s kindness and generosity! VNA Hospice and Home Health would like to wish you all good health and happiness this holiday season. May your hearts always be filled with love and kindness and your feet always be warm! United we stand, Onward and Upward we Achieve.
Northeast Regional Cancer Institute Receives $2,335 Donation The Plains Township Police Department collaborated with Futuristic Innovative Graphics in Kingston to specially design t-shirts as a breast cancer awareness fundraiser in October 2020.They raised $2,335.33 to support the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, a local organization focused on easing the burden of cancer in northeastern Pennsylvania. It was important to the organizers to keep the proceeds local. Community members were able to purchase t-shirts online through Futuristic Innovative Graphics website. The fundraiser was promoted on social media through the police department, graphics company and the Cancer Institute’s designated pages. The Plains Township Police Department plan to host this fundraiser again in fall 2021.
Geisinger Receives Donation for Fresh Food Farmacy™ Program Area families will get the gift of nutritious food, thanks to The GIANT Company’s gift to Geisinger’s Fresh Food Farmacy™ program. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has strained on food banks and food-insecure families across the state, the $200,000 gift from The GIANT Company will help sustain and expand the program. Education, diet and wellness coaches and assistants give Fresh Food Farmacy patients and families a “whole health” approach to their nutritional needs. Geisinger also plans to offer more wellness coaching through an app that will be created for patients of the program. Through partnerships with local food organizations the Fresh Food Farmacy provides fresh, healthy food to patients and their families for up to 10 meals per week. Patient education is also an important factor in the program, which addresses two key factors, including food insecurity and uncontrolled diabetes. Patients in the program have shown remarkable results with weight loss, lower blood pressure and improved measurements of triglycerides and cholesterol. Recent data shows that Fresh Food Farmacy patients have collectively achieved nearly $1.5 million in healthcare savings. “The GIANT Company’s gift will help us to reach even more patients and their families,” said Allison Hess, vice president of health, Geisinger Steele Institute for Health Innovation, said. “For example, we plan to expand to include patients with conditions other than diabetes. There are many disease states that show improvement in patients who eat healthy, fresh foods. And with the results we’ve seen with patients who have diabetes, we look forward to exploring those new avenues.” The GIANT Company has a long history of generosity to Geisinger and Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger. Early this year, GIANT provided $250,000 in donations for COVID relief to five children’s hospitals including Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital. The company also provided meals for many of Geisinger’s frontline workers during the pandemic. “Working with our incredible network of community partners, we continue to bring our new brand platform, For Today’s Table, to life in the communities we serve,” said Nicholas Bertram, president of The GIANT Company. “Like The GIANT Company, Geisinger believes that every family should be able to share a healthy meal. Since its launch, their Fresh Food Farmacy program has helped remove barriers to accessing nutritious, good-tasting food and we are honored to be able to support its expansion, bringing it to even more families.” Since 2017, Geisinger’s Fresh Food Farmacy has provided more than 706,000 meals to 4,828 families in the Lewistown, Shamokin and Scranton areas. To make a donation to the program, visit donations.geisinger.org and select Fresh Food Farmacy in the dropdown menu.
