The Easter Bunny greets drivers at Saturday’s Fork Over Love food distribution drive held at the Children’s Service Center in Wilkes-Barre.
                                 Kevin Carroll | Times Leader

The Easter Bunny greets drivers at Saturday’s Fork Over Love food distribution drive held at the Children’s Service Center in Wilkes-Barre.

Kevin Carroll | Times Leader

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<p>Children’s Service Center employee Jessy Miller helps load up takeout dinners into a vehicle on Saturday.	</p>
                                 <p>Kevin Carroll | Times Leader</p>

Children’s Service Center employee Jessy Miller helps load up takeout dinners into a vehicle on Saturday.

Kevin Carroll | Times Leader

WILKES-BARRE — Thanks to the efforts of a local nonprofit, hundreds of dinners were doled out on Saturday to ensure that those in need would have a hearty and happy Easter meal.

In just about three months since forming in January, Fork Over Love has dedicated itself to serving as a bridge between local restaurants impacted by the pandemic and Luzerne County citizens who have been struggling to make ends meet.

Saturday’s food distribution drive, held in the parking lot of the Children’s Service Center in Wilkes-Barre, was the latest in a long line of similar drives geared toward getting hot meals to those who need them.

“We’ve served over 4,000 people so far, and we’ve injected over $40,000 back into local restaurants who need help,” said Tracey Selingo, the founder of Fork Over Love.

On Saturday, the line of cars waiting snaked all the way around the Children’s Service Center parking lot and out onto Franklin Street about a half hour before the drive was even scheduled to start.

In total, 400 takeout dinners were assembled and put out by Selingo and her team of volunteers. Also helping out were volunteers from the Children’s Service Center, including the Center’s president and CEO, Mike Hopkins.

“Our organization and Fork Over Love are working toward the same things, so this was a no-brainer for us,” Hopkins said. “I told them ‘anytime you need us, we’re here.’”

The participating restaurants for this particular drive, with each restaurant receiving $10 for each dinner, were The Down Pour, Senunas’ Bar and Grill, Rodano’s and Arena Bar & Grill.

“With each drive we do, we reach out to restaurants from that neighborhood,” Selingo said.

Not to miss out on the Easter spirit, each takeout meal also came with some candy, in many cases handed out by the Easter Bunny himself, who was on hand greeting children as they passed through the drive-thru line.

Reservations weren’t mandated for Saturday’s drive, as Fork Over Love set aside a number of meals for those arriving without a reservation.

Selingo said that, for future distributions, the group would operate on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“We don’t want to discourage anyone from showing up because they may not have known to make a reservation,” Selingo said. “This will make the process a bit easier for everyone.”

The process certainly seemed to be smooth and easy on Saturday: As the cars pulled up to the front of the line, they would give their name and order to a volunteer, who would relay it to the rest of the team.

Volunteers would load up the trunk or the backseat of each car with their order, and the vehicle would pull right back out onto Franklin Street.

With over a dozen volunteers offering their services, the drive-thru line moved at a steady pace and everyone who signed up for a meal got their order.

“We’re happy to help,” said Jessy Miller of Children’s Service Center, one of the volunteers tasked with loading some of the takeout bags into the cars driving through.

Fork Over Love has plenty more distribution drives coming in the next few weeks, with scheduled stops in Hazleton, Dallas, Pittston and again in Wilkes-Barre during the month of April.

For information on these upcoming drives, anyone interested could visit forkoverlove.com to learn more.