Through the month of May area residents worked with the Jim Thorpe Market to donate 152 bags of groceries to local food pantries.

"Our local customer base is very generous when it comes to donating," said new store owner Charles Steward.During the program shoppers were able to donate $5 for one bag of Best Get brand rice, corn, mac and cheese, and noodle soup to be given to Jim Thorpe's Ebenezer and Saint Joe's churches at the beginning of June. According to Steward this was the first time the store had run the program."We prepackaged the bags and customers would then buy the bag to be delivered to the pantries," he said."The program was through our ad group, 'Sure Save' it was very successful in other areas so we thought we'd give it a try," he said."Hopefully that helped the families in our area."According to Steward the store will hold another donation drive some time during October.Before becoming the owner in June, Steward had worked as store manager for six years before purchasing the market from Marion Pasdon.Marion and husband Frank Pasdon had taken over the building when it was still Acme Markets in 1999. The Pasdons reopened the store, dubbing it the Jim Thorpe Market and embarked on an expansion five years later. In March 2004 the updated market was reopened featuring an in-store bakery, enlarged major departments, on-site prepared foods and organic foods.