Our Community Kitchen Hosts Back-to-School Carnival

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Our Community Kitchen will host a community carnival Aug. 10, offering area residents the chance to get school supplies, toiletries and pantry items. The event will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In addition to a cookout-style lunch and games with giveaways including items such as school supplies, gift baskets and gift cards, the community carnival will feature clowns and a special appearance by former boxing champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini.

Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries will provide vision screenings, while the Youngstown Fire Department will have a truck on-site for children and Great Clips will offer haircuts for children before they go back to school. Go Team will also have therapy dogs on site.

The carnival will be held Our Community Kitchen, 551 Mahoning Ave. The 6,500-square-foot center opened in 2016 and provides breakfast, hot lunches, meals to take home, community programs and medical services to those in need. 

Lifelong resident of Youngstown and an advocate for the homeless in the Youngstown area, Ralph “Skip” Barone, will be the kitchen manager. He began volunteering at St. Vincent De Paul Soup Kitchen once a week in the 1990s. 

After several years, Barone started volunteering three days a week and assumed the kitchen manager/cook position in 2002 until 2015. Under his supervision, the kitchen served over 100,000 meals annually. 

The event is free to the public with no need to show ID or proof of income. Donations of items for giveaways will be accepted through the day of the event. Monetary donations can be sent to Our Community Kitchen. 

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.