Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the Dec. 16, 2018 edition of the Sunday Dispatch.
WEST PITTSTON — The West Pittston Salvation Army received a huge boost for its Toys for Tots program from what turned out to be an idea just a few weeks ago.
Pittston resident Anthony Marranca looks forward every year to organizing the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl Game where graduates of Pittston Area gather to play touch football on Thanksgiving morning.
Prior to the game, Marranca had a conversation with Reba Emil and Kelly McFarland, both of Pittston and both from the Salvation Army, when it became apparent to him the organization’s Toys for Tots program would suffer with the loss of area stores such as Kmart and Ray’s that closed their doors this year.
“When we were going to hold our annual game, we decided to all bring a toy to the game,” Marranca said. “It blossomed into Arcaro’s (restaurant) bringing food down for everyone, the Jr. Patriots opening their stadium and, from there, we started taking donation.”
Toy drop-off locations were set up around Greater Pittston, according to Marranca.
“I reached out to the Salvation Army a few times to see what they needed and what they have. We went to Target and Wal-Mart and other local stores to buy toys with the donation money we collected from the football game,” Marranca added.
In addition to hundreds of toys amassed, clothing and toiletries were collected as well. According to Marranca, as of Dec. 3, 444 toys and 37 articles of clothing were donated.
“We lost Kmart and Ray’s and that brought down the kettle program as well as Walmart’s Angel Tree program,” said Lt. Holly Yeatts, of the West Pittston Salvation Army. “They raised a lot of toys from the Pittston Thanksgiving game and I believe the Pittston Fire Dept. also got toys.
“A whole bunch of money and toys were raised and they bought stuff on Amazon and all of it was shipped to Tony’s (Marranca) house,” Yeatts added.
Another contributor to the Salvation Army was the Pittston Area girls basketball team.
“We found out about the collection and our coach (Kathy Healey) thought it would be a great idea if we helped out,” said Pittston Area senior player Emily O’Brien. “We all collected different toys and our coaches bought basketballs and footballs. We (the team) collected over 30 toys.”
The donations were delivered to an empty storefront at the Insalaco Plaza at 800 Wyoming Ave. on Dec. 2.
Participants from the football game, as well as five seniors from the Pittston Area basketball team, delivered four truckloads of toys and clothing.
“You can’t understate what the girls basketball team did,” Marranca said. “It’s a community effort, a group effort to say the least, and it was all done in a month.”
According to Marranca, the effort will continue next year and for many years to come.
“We plan on registering as a charity and we are going to call ourselves the South Pittston Santa Squad going forward and we’ll work with the Salvation Army going forward if they’ll have us.”
