Infamous developer Robert K. Mericle delivered a hefty Christmas gift to the Commission on Economic Opportunity: a 6.35-acre parcel in a Jenkins Township industrial park for the construction of a regional food bank.
The donation, the organization said this week, is valued at more than $1 million and included site preparations necessary to make the property ready for construction of the 50,220 square-foot facility as early as next spring.
The donation to the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank is the latest foray into philanthropy for Mericle, who is awaiting sentencing for his involvement in a scheme to send juveniles to a for-profit detention center he helped build.
A federal judge this month approved a $17.75 million civil settlement between Mericle and more than 1,000 former juvenile offenders who claim their rights were violated in the scheme, known as kids-for-cash. Mericle has admitted to paying more than $2 million to former judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who closed a county-owned juvenile detention center and placed juveniles in two for-profit centers built by Mericle's construction firm.
Rich Kutz, the director of food bank, said Mericle's legal troubles never gave his organization pause about accepting the land donation. Despite Mericle's generosity, the food bank will continue to retain the Weinberg name, Kutz said.
"When we're dealing with organizations or individuals who want to make donations, we don't question their motives. Whether it be time, money, we gratefully accept their donations and move on from there," Kutz said Thursday. "We appreciate the donation."
Mericle's land donation coincided with a fast-closing window for the organization to obtain grant funding to finance the construction of the facility, Kutz said. Because of restrictions on the application process, Kutz said he could not provide the source or amount of the grant.
The new facility will serve as a warehouse and distribution point for the food bank's member agencies which will then provide the food to members of the public at off-site locations in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.
The regional food bank assists community organizations in obtaining food to provide to needy families, in particular children and the elderly, by collecting donations of wholesome but unmarketable food from the food industry and distributing it to these organizations. The food bank distributes about 5 million pounds of food annually and serves nearly 10,000 people every week through food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior citizen programs, day care centers, group homes for the disabled, children's camps, churches, local governments, housing authorities and others.
"When the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank was dedicated in 1996, we had 18 member agencies," Kutz said. "Today, we serve close to 140 agencies at 177 different sites. The demand for emergency food in Northeastern Pennsylvania continues to grow dramatically and we have outgrown our facility."