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Although the pandemic created unprecedented loss and suffering in our area and beyond, it also inspired our community to come together and creatively support and care for one another.
Case in point: Fork Over Love
On January 8, 2021, seven local women joined forces to create Fork Over Love to bridge the gap between two groups struggling to put food on the table for very different reasons—our small, independent restaurant community and neighbors in need. Family-owned restaurants were trying to survive the impact of mandated closures, social distancing, supply chain, and workforce issues, as many families and seniors struggled to make ends meet and find food and peace of mind.
Fork Over Love’s vision is clear: create a new system of care that nourishes the entire community. The mission is simple: purchase hot, delicious takeout meals from our independent restaurants and offer those meals to the whole community for free. In this way, everyone is elevated and empowered. Restaurants can do what they do best — cook for their community. Families struggling for any reason can access a nutritious meal in a dignified, equitable, kind, and compassionate environment.
Since its inception, Fork Over Love has partnered with 82 restaurants, 97 host sites, and more than 200 volunteers to deliver over 40,000 dinners while channeling more than $380,000 into our local economy. The organization recently hired its first employee after operating as a volunteer agency for two years. Heather Radel joined as Events and Operations Manager. She will play a vital role in expanding services and scaling for growth.
By investing in our restaurants to feed our people, Fork Over Love creates a socially innovative and responsible solution to nourish our entire community with dignity, grace, and power—physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, culturally, and economically.
The Luzerne Foundation recognized the strength of Fork Over Love’s vision and offered support through the Nonprofit Forum in the Spring of 2021. The organization was awarded 25K at The Millennium Circle Foundation in October 2021 and chosen as the first recipient of the Young Professionals Giving Fund in October 2022.
If you’d like to learn more about Fork Over Love, please visit forkoverlove.org to find or offer help in our community.
Working together makes our community stronger. If you have a cause near to your heart and want to make a difference here in Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond, please call us at the Luzerne Foundation or visit www.luzfdn.org for more information.
Do you want to make our community better? So do we. Let’s do it together.
Because of you and for you, we are … Here for good.™
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C. David Pedri is President and CEO of The Luzerne Foundation. This weekly column series is an advertising partnership between the The Luzerne Foundation and the Times Leader. For more information about the organization, visit www.luzfdn.org or call 570-822-2065.