ALLENTOWN — Eating pasta helped fill backpacks.
Saint John’s Roman Catholic Church in Allentown held its annual pasta dinner Nov. 1.
A sell-out crowd showed up to dine on food served by several of the church’s eighth-grade religious education confirmation students, according to Rachel Narozniak, church publicist and photographer.
In addition to feasting on homemade food, diners had the opportunity to participate in a Chinese auction for gift baskets assembled by Angela and her mother, Cora Sue Santopietro.
The Santopietros have been assembling the pasta dinner gift baskets for the past three years. Angela, who is a student at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, began assembling the baskets as her eighthgrade confirmation community service project, according to Narozniak.
All proceeds from the pasta dinner go toward the purchase of new backpacks for the church’s Backpack Project. Members of St. John’s fill the backpacks with back-toschool supplies for Catholic charities and local families, Narozniak said.