Volunteers return free lunches to Front Street

YOUNGSTOWN — About 200 people are expected to be served lunch today across from the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s dining hall.

Former volunteers gathered Wednesday to make sandwiches and provide other food items to those in need following the temporary closure of the society’s dining hall on Front Street downtown.

A donor came forward with funds for food after reading a Vindicator article on Tuesday about the closure of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

“We are going to stay out here as long as the kitchen is closed,” said Ralph “Skip” Barone, former kitchen manager of the society. “We have been very blessed. We are real happy.”

There’s no word on when the kitchen will reopen, but a new manager has been hired, according a press release from St. Vincent de Paul Society Mahoning District President Brian Antal.