Local Independent Operators, Bakery Company Partner to Provide Bread to Needy Families

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (EYT) – Several local independent operators are working with Bimbo Bakeries USA to provide bread to people in need in the Punxsutawney area.

(Pictured: Rick Viza in his truck of bread and baked goods.)

Rick Viza, an independent operator working out of the Punxsutawney Bimbo Bakeries USA location, wanted to do something to help people in need in the local community.

“I went out and asked all of the guys (other independent operators with the company) if they would be interested in donating,” Viza told exploreJeffersonPA.com.

“I also made a phone call to the company about it, and they liked the idea so much, they said they would donate some product, too.”

Viza, along with other local operators Chuck Strawser, David Lee McDonald, Dominick Sharp, Adam Goss, and Aaron Young, will be distributing bread starting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, at the Bimbo Bakeries USA location on South Main Street Extension in Punxsutawney.

The distribution will be handled as a drive-through process, and they ask to have just one person per family per vehicle, so they have enough product to distribute to as many families as possible.

The distribution will continue until all of the donated product is handed out.

“We only have so much, because we can each only donate so much, but we do have quite a bit,” Viza said.

According to Viza, while the pandemic has hit many industries hard, baked goods are still a hot commodity, and they have continued to make deliveries to grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants.

“We’re an essential vendor,” he noted. “We’re at risk just like everyone else out here.”

While plans for possible future distributions are still up in the air, Viza said he’d like to be able to continue to help people this way.

“I would like to do it again once or twice more if the other guys are up to it, but we’ll see how it goes.”