Providing Hope Connects With Local Stores

Sandra Jones and Paul Zenone's first date in May of 2019 was a little unusual. "Our first date was a community meal," recalled Zenone. The second date was even more unusual. "Our second date was a hike where we saw people living in homeless camps and under bridges," he noted.

From that beginning, Jones and Zenone have created Providing Hope, an organization that provides clothing and food to the homeless in the Reading area on a weekly basis, with the help of about 20 volunteers.

Zenone and Jones first connected when Jones, who grew up in the Donegal area, saw an ad on Craigslist seeking donations for homeless people in Reading. She reached out to Zenone, who had placed the ad, and the pair began serving the homeless community together. On Sept. 17, 2020, Providing Hope celebrated its second anniversary as an organization.

The pair now works with several Lancaster County food stores, including the Grocery Outlet Bargain Markets. Their first partnership was with Justin and Ellie Maenner, who own the Spring Valley Road store, purchasing items at a deep discount. They have also partnered with Heather and Mike Cherasaro, who own the Lincoln Highway East store, and the couple works with the Manheim Grocery Outlet store. "They reached out to us when we opened the store in April 2020," recalled Heather, who noted that an oatmeal manufacturer had printed the wrong expiration date on its product. "It wasn't expired, but we weren't going to sell it, so we said, 'Here you go,'" said Heather.

Providing Hope holds a food distribution on Court Street in Reading each Sunday starting at 3:30 p.m. The giveaway includes 15 food items. On Mondays, Providing Hope makes a snack bag run through the city with regular stops. To help homeless Reading residents to know where they can shower or do laundry, Providing Hope has created a flyer in English and Spanish that lists days of the week and locations of services.

Now, the couple hopes to provide similar help in Lancaster County, where Jones, who works with autistic children, is already storing some of the clothing bank items she has collected. "At our house we have bins for male and female winter and summer shirts from small to extra-large," said Jones. "I store plus sizes and kids' clothes at my parents' house in Lancaster." Zenone, who owns a flooring business, added that Reading-area nonprofits now reach out to Providing Hope when they need clothing for a client.

Both Jones and Zenone welcome donations of food and clothing and volunteers. Readers who would like to know more about the organization or would like to indicate interest in helping it expand into Lancaster may search for "Providing Hope" on Facebook.