T hroughout the summer, Upper Darby School District’s teacher and support staff unions have been supporting their community through the local nonprofit Upper Darby Community Outreach Corp.
More than 100 volunteers have assisted by making deliveries, donating goods, or through other means such as cooking or packaging meals. Both unions also made financial donations to the organization.
Every Tuesday and Thursday since the pandemic hit, more than 200 hot, homemade meals are provided to the elderly, unemployed, or other citizens in need in the community.
So far, they’ve served close to 6,000 meals and have helped create a small food bank of staples to support the families. PSEA also supplied them with a grant for community involvement.
Denise Kennedy, an ESP member from Upper Darby, arranged a Zoom open mic night to aid in fundraising efforts.
“My daughter handled the technology, and I wrote scripts, introductions, and got most of the talent,” Kennedy said. “It was really successful, and we raised just shy of $8,000 to help in the efforts.”
While most of the open mic’s talent pool was drawn from music teachers, students, and alumni, the group’s influence reached all the way to the PA Legislature.
“We got Sen. Kearney to do a Springsteen song right off the Senate floor!” Kennedy said. “And Rep. Zabel was a financial sponsor of the event too.”
