Donations requested

From the Monroe County Habitat for Humanity ReStore comes a reminder/request to donate “gently used items for a second life by donating them to the Monroe County ReStore.”

The store is located at 2610 Milford Road, East Stroudsburg. Call 570-216-4390 or check them out on Facebook.

PVEN summary

In the December report from the Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network were the following statistics for folks served in November:

Food Pantry, 302 families, totaling 1,218 individuals; Clothing Closet, 64 families, 212 individuals; Diaper Pantry, 153 families; and Menstrual Hygiene, 320 individuals.

The Holiday Assistance Program impacted 76 families, totaling 174 children.

Needed by the PVEN now are: Food Pantry — coffee and tea, oatmeal, tomato sauce, bottled juice; Clothing Closet — winter coats, lined hoodies and lined gloves for children and adults, all types of cleaning products, bed linens and towels, and deodorant and body wash; Diaper Pantry — baby formula and baby food, adult pull-ups and bladder protection pads, and bed protector pads.

The distribution tally for the this past service year: over 200,000 pounds of food; over 57,000 articles of clothing, shoes and necessities to over 2,500 individuals; 900 packages of diapers and 2,900 monthly packages and tampons; over 17,000 free lunches to nearly 3,600 children.

The Back-to-School Extravaganza helped 184 students with items including clothing, sneakers and backpacks, while the Holiday Toy Program provided “more than 2,600 new toys and clothing items to 174 children in need.”

Many thanks are forwarded to the community for the support that makes the outreach possible each year.

Contest opens

Children and teens under 18 years old are invited by AltruVision, a Lions Eye Bank, to join the Butterflies of Hope art contest.

The butterfly, a symbol of “hope and transformation,” is the theme of the contest.

As such, youths under the age of 18 are invited “to create original butterfly-themed artwork representing hope, transformation, and joy.”

The winning artwork will become the “limited-edition AltruVision Butterfly Design, featured on AltruVision merchandise, this coming spring.”

Submissions open Friday and close Feb. 6.

For more details, contact alex@altruvision.org.

Epiphany services

At 4 p.m. Saturday and at 8 and 11 a.m. Sunday, respectively, Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Brodheadsville, will celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. The church’s Spanish community will celebrate the same at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Two events at church

Pleasant Valley Assembly of God church has two events set for Saturday. The Brotherhood Men’s Fellowship will meet at 9 a.m. in the lower level for fellowship and a word of encouragement.

At 11 a.m., the Bridge Ministry Outreach will meet at the church for prayer before heading out to minister to those in need.

Volunteers are welcome.

Donations of the following items are appreciated: socks, personal hygiene products, sweatpants and sweatshirts (unisex), easy-to-open canned food and winter hats.

The blue bin will be located in the lower level for the convenience of donating.

Classes to resume

Religious classes at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Brodheadsville, will resume on Sunday.

Love Feast service

St. Matthew’s ECC, Kunkletown, will hold a Love Feast service beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

Reorganization meetings

Eldred Township will hold its board of supervisors organizational meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, as will the auditors.

Fasting and prayer

The churchwide fast and prayer at Pleasant Valley Assembly of God church will begin Sunday and conclude on Jan. 25. That fast, explains the church, could be food, social media or electronics.

First meeting

The first meeting of 2026 by the Polk Township Historical Society in the New Year will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Polk Township Municipal Building in Kresgeville. All citizens interested in local history are invited.

Anyone with questions may call Norm Burger at 610-681-7561. There is no planned meeting in February.

Young Adults to meet

The Young Adults Group (ages 18 to 35, with ages 21 and up for “Taps”) at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Brodheadsville, will meet at 6 p.m. Sunday at The Lakeside, with food and drinks at their own expense.

Bingo Night

The West End Memorial American Legion Post 927, Gilbert, will hold its first Bingo Nite of 2026 on Monday. Card sales begin at 6:30 p.m. The first game is called at 7 p.m.

Seed exchange

The Western Pocono Community Library has announced that the seed exchange will be back in 2026. More information is available at the circulation desk.

The library is open Monday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Thursday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The phone number is 717-992-7934.

Community Luncheon

Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Brodheadsville, will hold its first Community Luncheon of the year at 1 p.m. Monday.

TOPS meeting

Salem-St. Paul Lutheran Church, Kresgeville, hosts TOPS meetings at 10 a.m. and at 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

For more information, call the church at 610-681-5191.

Teens of Peace

There are no meetings for Teens of Peace at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church until Jan. 6 for the high school and Jan. 7 for the middle school.

Loss support

The Brodheadsville area bereavement support group will meet from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 at the Western Pocono Community Library, 131 Pilgrim Way, Brodheadsville.

Donations, please

Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Brodheadsville, will be accepting donations for the 2026 Christmas sale of vintage items, antiques, blow molds, yard décor, tableware, linens, jewelry, villages and houses (Department 56), books, Christmas music and records and DVDs; just about anything Christmas-related is appreciated. The bulletin notes that drop-off will be at the chapel entrance on from 2 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 9 and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Jan. 10.

Museum reopening

The Eldred Township Museum will reopen on Jan. 10.

Happy New Year!

May you, the column readers, have a most happy New Year indeed! Remember to have your organization share your needs, impact, good news, meetings, etc. with this correspondent at arargot3@verizon.net, keeping in mind that although the column is usually published on Wednesday, the column information must be sent to the copy editors by Monday evening.