COVID-19 has given us lemons. But in this crisis, PEEC is making lemonade
Dingmans Ferry. With local grants and government funds, the folks at the Pocono Environmental Education Center are back to cooking up a storm. This year, though, instead of serving campers, they’re feeding the community.
| 03 Jun 2020 | 02:05
Amelia Hoskins, Greg Pizzano and ErinTaylor from the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) and Cherie Bland from the Pike County COA. (Photo provided by PEEC)
From left: Erin Taylor from the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) and Rory Naturale, a Delaware Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps volunteer (Photo provided by PEEC)
From left: Erin Taylor from the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) and Rory Naturale, a Delaware Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps volunteer (Photo provided by PEEC)
Every spring, the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) is busy hosting huge numbers of school groups for overnight environmental and sustainability education classes.The young people stay in cabins on PEEC’s campus, and PEEC’s chef, Erin Taylor, turns out hundreds of meals a day in their commercial kitchen.
But we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and everything is shut down because of COVID-19.
After several weeks of furlough, PEEC applied for and received Payroll Protection Program (PPP) money from the Small Business Administration. That allowed them to bring back staff, but they still couldn’t open to the public. Some staff members were able to do individual maintenance projects, and others could post educational videos for social media (check out the Beaver Chronicles on PEEC’s Facebook page).
Alas, poor Erin Taylor could only do so much deep cleaning of her already spotless state-of-the-art commercial kitchen. Jeff Rosalsky, PEEC‘s executive director, thought, “Here we sit with a gleaming empty kitchen, vans, and hot boxes, so how can we put it all together to help the community?”
Rosalsky had a eureka moment. He applied to and received a $5,000 grant from the Greater Pike Community Foundation to purchase food supplies to provide meals for local food pantries and the Pike County Council on Aging. PEEC was buzzing again, with Taylor busy cooking up hundreds of meals.
But why stop there? Pocono ProFoods of East Stroudsburg, one of PEEC’s local food suppliers, heard about the grant from the Greater Pike Community Foundation and agreed to match it with in-kind food donations. So they sent a truck with boxes and boxes of fresh, delicious Einstien Bros. bagels, 8,000 in all. The Delaware Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps volunteered to deliver the bagels to Bushkill and North EMS, Milford, Matamoras, Pocono, Hemlock, and Tannersville Fire and Rescue Departments, and many other places, including local churches and the Delaware Valley schools’ free and reduced lunch program.
On top of that, Jason Hoy, Taylor’s former business partner at the Tucker Silk Mill restaurant in Easton, Pa., agreed to donate fresh produce and other food supplies to the effort.
Donations are still coming in, and Rosalsky couldn’t be more pleased. It allows PEEC to use its facilities and good people to do good for others in this time of crisis.
Jeff Rosalsky, PEEC‘s executive director, thought, “Here we sit with a gleaming empty kitchen, vans, and hot boxes, so how can we put it all together to help the community?”