Charles Barber, who was honored by Dinners for Kids, speaks at their annual fundraising dinner Thursday evening.
Patrick Kernan | Times Leader
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KINGSTON — Dinners for Kids was finally able to have its own annual dinner on Wednesday night, after having to delay for more than a month due to torrential rains in the beginning of September.
The non-profit organization, founded by David Tevet, owner of Ollie’s Restaurant in Edwardsville, has sought to deliver healthy meals to underprivileged and at-risk kids multiple times a week since 2011.
Those meals are primarily prepared out of Ollie’s Restaurant and Metz at Misericordia University.
Annually, the non-profit holds a fundraising dinner to celebrate the word done by the program and, of course, to make the money necessary to continue it, and this year’s was held at the Sidney and Pauline Friedman Jewish Community Center. The dinner was also scheduled to honor Charles Barber, the newly-retired CEO of the Luzerne Foundation, who recently left his post after 21 years.
Wednesday’s fundraising dinner was quite literally the “rain date,” after the original date for the event had to be moved, as it happened to coincide with the devastating rain storms that caused flash flooding on Sept. 1.
According to Tevet, the event was a smash hit, with the fundraiser bringing in tens of thousands of dollars to help feed hungry kids.
“I would like to thank all of you for coming tonight to support us, morally and financially,” Tevet said. “We need the sponsors to cover the cost of the meals and extend the program.
“Your generosity helped us raise about $30,000 this week,” he went on, before explaining that the non-profit relies exclusively on the generosity of donors to keep itself going.
Barber, whose work with the Luzerne Foundation often directly helped the Dinners for Kids program, spoke at length about how important programs like Dinners for Kids are.
“Thank you for recognizing this tremendous problem across our community, and taking the actions with Dinners for Kids” Barber said, directing his comments to Tevet. “Now hundreds of children have the assurance of simple, healthy meals every day of the week.”
