Student Spotlight: Paige Zona

Paige+Zona+steps+into+a+new+role+as+Student+Volunteer+Coordinator+for+Marywoods+Pacer+Pantry.

Photo credit/ Jarrett Jervis

Paige Zona steps into a new role as Student Volunteer Coordinator for Marywood’s Pacer Pantry.

Paige Zona has dedicated her life to helping others in both her academic career and in the Marywood community. Originally from Tunkhannock, PA, Zona has always had a passion for serving others.

She began her college career in the Fall of 2021 with over 500 hours of community service which she gained through her work with Child Hunger Outreach Partners and her role as President of the Wyoming County Junior Fair Board. Zona is also a Maxis Gillet scholar on campus. The Maxis Gillet scholarship program trains students to become the next generation of leaders and Zona certainly fits in that category.

As a Maxis Gillet scholar, Zona is required to fulfill over 200 hours of community service each year. Last year Zona was the Vice President of Marywood’s Volunteers in Action Club. However, this year, she decided to take on the Pacer Pantry as the Student Volunteer Coordinator. Zona works closely with Friends of the Poor and Marywood’s Campus Ministry staff, including the Director of Community Service and Social Justice Amy Fotta.

“She is very passionate about it and went above and beyond in coordinating volunteers and getting things set up on social media and working with our graduate assistant here to oversee a lot of details and I think that speaks volumes for her commitment to providing an on-campus service that is important and always to be thinking about other people,” said Fotta.

Zona’s roles include organizing food drives, registering students who visit the pantry, promoting the pantry, and more.

Zona is currently taking her love of helping others into her future career as she studies nursing. These two aspects of Zona’s life frequently overlap as she cares for patients.

“I see a lot of it working with each other because as a nurse, you see a lot of people come from underrepresented populations, and not having access to food directly correlates with your health,” said Zona.

In addition to nutritional health, Zona is working to keep students safe in other areas including sexual health. Earlier in the semester, Zona won the Trojan Condom Collective which gives away a box of 500 free condoms to students across the country who are making a difference in their community.

“I want to bring in some of the condoms and put them out so that students not only have access to food, they have access to hygiene products, but also they have access to safe contraceptives,”said Zona.

Zona welcomes everyone in the Marywood community to utilize the variety of resources that the pantry provides.

“It’s for everyone on campus, students, staff, and faculty, there is zero income requirement, and we encourage people to come because the more people we get to visit the pantry the more stuff and the better we can provide,”explained Zona. “So simply just by stopping by and checking in, we can start to get more and more product.”

The Pacer Pantry is open on Monday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m and Friday from 12 p.m to 4 p.m.

Contact the writer: [email protected]