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Pine-Richland football players collect food to help needy families prepare Easter dinner | TribLIVE.com
Pine Creek Journal

Pine-Richland football players collect food to help needy families prepare Easter dinner

Tony LaRussa
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Courtesy Bakerstown Alliance Church
Members of Pine-Richland’s football program recently teamed up with volunteers from the charitable group Dream Big Honduras to collect and distribute food to help 50 needy families prepare an Easter dinner. The volunteers were on hand at Bakerstown Alliance Church in Richland on April 11 to assemble the food bags that will be distributed. Pictured left to right are: Ryan Cory, Jon Smith and Jake Beam, with Bryce O’Brien in background.
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Courtesy Bakerstown Alliance Church
A hand-made Easter greeting from a member of the Pine-Richland football team will be included in a bag of food items being distributed to needy families so they can prepare an Easter dinner. The food going to 50 families was collected by the players and volunteers with the charity Dream Big Honduras.
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Courtesy Bakerstown Alliance Church
The food collected by members of Pine-Richland’s football program to help provide an Easter dinner to 50 families will be distributed in reusable bags. Team members helped pack the bags on April 11 at Bakerstown Alliance Church in Richland. Pictured left to right are: Jon Smith, Ryan Cory and Pat DeSantes, with Makenna LeDonne in background.
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Courtesy Bakerstown Alliance Church
Reusable grocery bags filled with all the things needed to prepare an Easter dinner “plus a few extras” are lined up at Bakerstown Alliance Church in Richland on April 11 so they can be distributed to needy families.
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Courtesy Bakerstown Alliance Church
Members of Pine-Richland’s football program helped bring a little joy into the lives of 50 needy families by collecting food that will be distributed so they can prepare an Easter dinner. Pictured, left to right are, juniors Connor Dripps, Bryce O’Brien, Nick Kincaid and Ethan Pillar.

Members of the Pine-Richland football program recently teamed up with volunteers from a local charitable group to collect and distribute food to help 50 needy families prepare an Easter dinner.

The players helped raise money to buy food and volunteered at Bakerstown Alliance Church in Richland on April 11 to assemble the food bags that will be distributed.

The Easter food project was organized by Dream Big Honduras, a nonprofit group founded in 2010 by Alliance Church members Bethany and Brad Wentz to provide assistance to the town of Pinelajo in Honduras.

Bethany Wentz said with help from the Pine-Richland players, the organization is able to double the number of families it would help with food this Easter.

“Dream Big Honduras and Bakerstown Alliance have been collaborating to bless families locally for the last year,” she said. “We set big goals and pray that God will give us the items and the volunteers to pull it off. The PR football team stepped in and did the majority of the work for us. Pretty amazing.”

Rams football coach Jon LeDonne said he learned about the project from the president of the team’s Touchdown Club booster organization and thought it was something in which the team should participate.

He said one of the things he wanted to do when he became coach was to “get the kids into volunteerism and support for the community.”

“Most of us are very fortunate in what we have,” he said. “This project is very near and dear to us.”

In addition to all the items needed to prepare an Easter dinner “plus a few extras,” the food is being distributed in reusable bags along with a hand-made Easter greeting from a team member.

Wentz said 30 of the 50 food bags will go to families in the Pine-Richland School District with the remainder going to families served by the Mars Home for Youth.

“What you’re doing tonight is going to multiply,” Wentz told the players and volunteers who came out to assemble the bags. “It’s important to think outside the Pine-Richland bubble to help give people a little joy in their lives.”

Junior Nick Kincaid said the players were happy to participate.

“We just want to give back,” he said. “It feels good to give back to people who don’t have a lot. It’s a great community.”

Tony LaRussa is a TribLive reporter. A Pittsburgh native, he covers crime and courts in the Alle-Kiski Valley. He can be reached at tlarussa@triblive.com.

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Categories: Local | Pine Creek Journal
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