In the News

The Hazleton Integration Project (HIP) held an open house to officially launch their Eradicating Food Insecurity (EFI) Initiative.

The event was held at the Hazleton Community Center to showcase the different programs they offer to solve food insecurity in the Greater Hazleton Area .

Hazleton 's Integration project has served over 200,000 meals to those in need and they're hoping to increase those numbers.

The Hazleton Integration project began 11 years ago with the mission to provide educational, cultural and athletic opportunities for economically disadvantaged children.

Bob Curry, the founding president of the HIP, says that the level of food insecurity in the greater Hazleton area during the pandemic inspired them to launch this initiative.

“We were astonished people were so food insecure that they were willing to wait hours and hours and line up in the vehicles for hours just to get their hands on shelf stable,” Curry said.

Curry says that this initiative wouldn’t be possible without Congressman Matt Cartwright, who was able to secure a 1.2 million dollars in community project funding for this organization.

“To be able to invigorate a program like this, what it did put all these students to work figuring out where are the areas of food insecurity,” Congressman Cartwright said.