Pine-Richland football players collect food to help needy families prepare Easter dinner

Tony LaRussa | Tuesday, April 12, 2022 3:49 p.m.

Courtesy Bakerstown Alliance Church

Members of Pine-Richland’s football program recently teamed up with volunteers from the charitable group Dream Big Honduras to collect and distribute food to help 50 needy families prepare an Easter dinner. The volunteers were on hand at Bakerstown Alliance Church in Richland on April 11 to assemble the food bags that will be distributed. Pictured left to right are: Ryan Cory, Jon Smith and Jake Beam, with Bryce O’Brien in background.

Members of the Pine-Richland football program recently teamed up with volunteers from a local charitable group to collect and distribute food to help 50 needy families prepare an Easter dinner.

The players helped raise money to buy food and volunteered at Bakerstown Alliance Church in Richland on April 11 to assemble the food bags that will be distributed.

The Easter food project was organized by Dream Big Honduras, a nonprofit group founded in 2010 by Alliance Church members Bethany and Brad Wentz to provide assistance to the town of Pinelajo in Honduras.

Bethany Wentz said with help from the Pine-Richland players, the organization is able to double the number of families it would help with food this Easter.

“Dream Big Honduras and Bakerstown Alliance have been collaborating to bless families locally for the last year,” she said. “We set big goals and pray that God will give us the items and the volunteers to pull it off. The PR football team stepped in and did the majority of the work for us. Pretty amazing.”

Rams football coach Jon LeDonne said he learned about the project from the president of the team’s Touchdown Club booster organization and thought it was something in which the team should participate.

He said one of the things he wanted to do when he became coach was to “get the kids into volunteerism and support for the community.”

“Most of us are very fortunate in what we have,” he said. “This project is very near and dear to us.”

In addition to all the items needed to prepare an Easter dinner “plus a few extras,” the food is being distributed in reusable bags along with a hand-made Easter greeting from a team member.

Wentz said 30 of the 50 food bags will go to families in the Pine-Richland School District with the remainder going to families served by the Mars Home for Youth.

“What you’re doing tonight is going to multiply,” Wentz told the players and volunteers who came out to assemble the bags. “It’s important to think outside the Pine-Richland bubble to help give people a little joy in their lives.”

Junior Nick Kincaid said the players were happy to participate.

“We just want to give back,” he said. “It feels good to give back to people who don’t have a lot. It’s a great community.”