HUGHESTOWN — Santa Claus will make his way through the borough, accompanied by fire company members.
Old Saint Nick will ride the fire truck and meet local children, all while the fire ompany members partake in their annual canned food drive.
The event will be held Sunday, Dec. 18.
Hughestown Fire Hose Co. Fire Chief Jamie Merlino said the non-perishable food items are donated to the Greater Pittston Food Pantry, something the hose company has been doing for years.
“We’ve been doing this canned food drive for decades, probably at least 35 years,” he said. “It makes us feel good. We get to walk around town and introduce Santa to the kids. We always fill up on canned foods.”
The food drive will take place after the hose company’s breakfast with Santa, which will be held from 8 a.m. to noon.
After the breakfast, fire company members and volunteers spend a half hour cleaning up and are on the road anywhere between 12:30 and 1 p.m.
While out and about, the members will collect canned goods from front porches and will give candy canes to residents who are home.
Merlino said if residents aren’t home, they can leave their items in a plastic or paper bag on their front porch.
“We don’t leave behind candy canes for those not home, because we don’t want a stray animal to get ahold of it,” he said.
Although fire company members will cover the entire 0.9 square miles of the borough, Merlino said it sometimes takes longer than anticipated to complete the collection, depending on how many residents are out.
“Some residents give us drinks and snacks and sometimes we stop and talk for a bit,” he said. “There are times where we’ve done this in three hours and sometimes in five hours. It all depends on how many people are out.”
Merlino said it’s impossible to give an exact amount of how much food is collected but said the hose company has received estimates that their collection can feed up to 100 families.
“We stock it up and we help the pantry pretty good,” he said.
With the event approaching, Merlino wants the community to know the company is more than just a group of fire fighters.
He said the event helps the community and fire company become better acquainted.
“This gets us out in the community and it shows that we do more than just go around and put out fires,” he said. “We want people to see that we give back. I just want people to know what a good thing it is to help out the people in the area by donating, and what we do to make it happen.”
