Programs Partner with Local Community during Coronavirus Crisis

Two new programs have been launched to help address urgent needs in the Scranton community, needs mirrored in communities across our country due to the coronavirus and its impact on economic and community wellbeing.

The Electric City Connection is a project whereby community organizations are partnering with area businesses to provide meals to low-income residents. An effort led by The University of Scranton, Scranton Tomorrow and Friends of the Poor, the Connection program accepts donations which will then be used to purchase $15 gift cards for participating Scranton restaurants to be used for take-out and delivery meal options. Read more here. 

Since the program began on Friday, March 20 it has raised more than $16,000 for a total of more than 1,000 restaurant gift cards being distributed across the City of Scranton by Friends of the Poor and partner organizations to those experiencing economic insecurity.

Scranton Spreads Cheer seeks to provide messages to older adults in Northeastern Pennsylvania who cannot have visitors during this time. Students, from kindergarten through college, can create artistic messages, take a photo and email them to community@scranton.edu. They will then be printed and shared with the Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania in the University’s Hill Section neighborhood. 

University partnering offices on these programs include The Office of Community Relations, Center for Service and Social Justice, and the University of Scranton Small Business Development Center. For more information, contact community@scranton.edu.