Luzerne County officials watch Dinner For Kids meal preparation

Luzerne County Council members watched in awe Wednesday as workers and volunteers at Ollie’s restaurant in Edwardsville swiftly filled containers with penne pasta and meatballs for 247 at-risk Wyoming Valley children as part of the “Dinners For Kids” program.

Council allocated $200,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funds for the program, which battles childhood hunger by delivering six nutritious and balanced meals to children each week in microwave-safe containers, accompanied by fresh fruit.

“Henry Ford would be pleased with their assembly line,” Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. said as the crew topped the meal with shredded cheese and spaghetti sauce.

“It’s great what they’re doing and also scary that there is such a need,” said Council Vice Chairman John Lombardo.

The county has been scheduling regular visits to American Rescue recipient sites because the public was largely in the dark about most of the $55 million in awards to 113 outside entities. Also attending Wednesday’s visit were Council members LeeAnn McDermott, Tim McGinley, Matthew Mitchell and Brian Thornton, county Manager Romilda Crocamo and county grant writer Michele Sparich, who has been assisting with American Rescue management.

David and Edna Tevet, the prior owners of Ollie’s, founded Dinners For Kids more than a decade ago.

After thanking council for the earmark, David Tevet told them the nonprofit relies on donations and grants and has children on a waiting list because the need is greater than available funding.

Some children receive their meals at a local motel because their families are homeless and had to temporarily stay there as they explore options, Tevet said. He recalled his own experiences delivering meals to the hotel, sometimes encountering multiple children and a parent lodged in a single room with no kitchen.

“That breaks your heart,” said Bob Borwick, the nonprofit board chair and father of current Ollie’s owner Matt Borwick, who chose to continue the program.

Volunteers, many retirees, deliver more than 75,000 meals annually to children in the Wilkes-Barre, West Side and Dallas areas.

Bob Borwick said many view the Dallas area as affluent, but there are a significant number of “rural poor” children in need of the meals.

The nonprofit often receives feedback that children perform better in school after they start receiving the meals, Borwick said. Referrals for at-risk youth typically come from teachers, guidance counselors and Children and Youth.

“There’s no one universal solution for hunger, and ours is providing dinner,” David Tevet said. “How can kids concentrate if they eat potato chips for dinner or nothing at all?”

The meals are prepared at cost, for $3.50 each, and nobody makes money on the mission, Tevet said. The cost to prepare a year’s worth of meals for the current 247 recipients is approximately $270,000, he said.

Tevet encouraged restaurants and volunteers in other parts of the county to launch their own Dinners For Kids programs if they are able to raise funds to help children in their areas.

An estimated 10,000 county children face food insecurity, Borwick said.

“The need is dramatic,” he told county officials.

Gala tonight

Dinners For Kids will hold its 6th Annual Dinner Gala at 5:30 p.m. today, Oct. 12 at the Henry Science Center of Misericordia University. This year’s event will pay tribute to Rabbi Larry Kaplan, one of the group’s founding members.

For more information about the event and the organization, visit www.dinners4kids.org.