three two one
Thank you for being here today to celebrate this grand opening of the Farm Store a wonderful new addition to our
community here in Pottsville Pennsylvania This is truly a day of celebration not just for this incredible
new business but for all the farmers families and individuals who work hard
every day to make our region thrive It's hard to believe that just a
short time ago the idea of a place like the Farm Store was a dream a dream to
bring fresh healthy local food directly to the heart of downtown
Pottsville eliminating the food desert that many of our neighbors have had to navigate for so long And today that
dream is a reality The Farm Store is so much more
than just a place to shop It is a vital resource that connects our community to
over 30 local farms offering access to fresh meats dairy produce and so much
more This store stands as a testament to the power of local agriculture and the
impact it has on our economy and on our health
The hard work of our farmers and their ability to provide us with the best of
what Skookul County and beyond has to offer is something we should all
celebrate and truly support Together we have shown that when we come together as
a community we can build something truly remarkable What's more this store is a
testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of Skookul County It represents the
dreams the determination and the vision of those who believe in the importance
of local agriculture healthy living and small
familyowned businesses We are truly incredibly proud to support them in this exciting venture
Please join me now in welcoming the owners of the Farm Store Angela and
Josiah Mack
[Laughter] Thank you all for
coming Thank you all for coming I can't tell you how amazing it is We are so
grateful to have you here today Um I'm Angela and this is Josiah
And we we started out with our farm in Honey Brook uh Honey Brook Farm in Sko
Haven And we we started in 2019 We were not sure
what we were going to do with the farm and how we were going to make it profitable And we started to look at
different options And I like to tell people we were on plan C or plan D Um
when we we settled on raising meat and beef pork chicken turkeys doing it from
the farm doing it ourselves um raising everything on pasture and really paying
attention to what we were uh putting in those livestock and then putting in our
foods and then we have always given it a focus on on what our our we wanted our
kids to have You know what what did we want them to have And so we've made a lot of sacrifices just so that we could
prioritize where they live where they are and what they eat Um and that that's
brought us here today It's been a really uh long journey it feels like but if you
think about it I guess we accomplished a lot in in the last six years
So it's it's exciting We we knew how much uh how unique it was that together
we could run the farm and also market our products And the team that we made uh make between the two of us is really
unique And as we talked to other farmers and as we just saw and other farmers uh
have great products but either not be able to market it or have to wait until the next generation to come through to
be able to market that on on the internet um it became ever more pressing that not only could we sell our products
at a store like this we could really help a lot of other farmers as well And so that's that's a little bit about the
background Um I just want to thank um so many of the people that are here today
Uh first of all I have to point out uh Zavis Loathitis back there um the Ignite
program in the chamber uh without their support um their knowledge uh this would
not be possible We started a farm from the ground up and I thought that was hard Um navigating a new business in a
city is something I don't know that I have the strength to do again But Savas was really there every step of the way
answering my text messages at 11 o'clock at night or 6 o'clock in the morning um just a great asset and the chamber was
right there with him supporting us So really thank you so much Sav for
everything Um and then all of you here today this this would not be possible
I'm sorry if I get emotional here Um this wouldn't be possible without our customers without our friends without
our family Um so many of you out there today were here at nine o'clock at night helping me
once or twice or early in the morning or a last minute hey can you help me move nine freezers into a door that doesn't
fit You know you know who you are out there You know who you are out there Yeah But thank you Thank you all Um
because this wouldn't be possible uh without a community without customers and um just thank you so much
Thank you
Well you guys have attended some of our ribbon cutings in the past so today's no different We have an entourage here to
welcome you and to enjoy this ribbon cutting And first and foremost we're
going to begin with a person that happens to be state representative in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the
124th legislative district but he also is the chair of the school chamber of
commerce board of directors It's my pleasure to inter introduce to you State
Representative James Barton Jamie [Applause]
thank you Welcome everyone Congratulations Josiah and Angela and and agriculture is the
number one industry in uh in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania And and what what's happening here today what
what this represents is so much of what the agricultural community actually uh
is And that is uh of a community coming together Um Josiah you heard it from
Angel and Josiah's comments but I'd like to share uh uh something that um I think
is a short story that will really help you appreciate what giving folks these people are Um and and and we have uh
Bob's going to introduce Secretary Reading Secretary of Agriculture very shortly This this week uh the FFA
leadership group was down in Harrisburg and and Secretary Reading spent a lot of time with them and I had the pleasure of
spending time with uh the FFA group from Kutztown about two years ago I was at
the Kutztown FFA banquet Kutztown Pennsylvania Burks County and I saw this
lovely couple dragging around three children at the time Uh um and I thought
what are what are people from Skookul County doing down here in Burks County supporting the the the
the Kutztown FFA the Future Farmers of America And what I found out was their
project was to raise a pig and to feed that pig And the students the FFA
students had to figure out what it was what it took to what what that cost behind that pork would actually when
they went to market how much per pound it would be and the significance of doing the business behind the farming
Josiah and Angela donated that pig donated their time to their students This is before any of this um that they
any of this that they did that um and they did it in the name of farming They did it in the name of agriculture They
did it in the name of of teaching others And so that's the type of people we have here before us And this is also a
combination of the the Skookul Chamber of Commerce as Josiah shared also coming together with the community So we are so
delighted to have you So excited for this business and congratulations
Thank you so much Jamie
And now it's a great pleasure to introduce uh a very important person
that took the time to come here today Many of us have met him before He's one of the nicest guys you're ever going to
meet Isn't every farmer isn't every person that uh has been involved with agriculture But a little bit about
Secretary Russell Reading He was uh unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate to serve as
Pennsylvania's 27th Secretary of Agriculture on May 10th
2023 Governor Josh appear nominated Secretary Reading to continue serving as
Secretary after he had already served between 2015 and 2022 under former Governor Tom Wolf He's
the former dean of the school of agriculture and environmental sciences at Delaware Valley University He has a
great extensive experience as a public servants having spent more than 30 years
serving Pennsylvania and Harrisburg and in Washington DC He worked on Capitol
Hill as the a policy adviser to US Senator Harris Walford and served for
nearly 25 years in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture serving as Secretary also from 29 2009 to 2011
under former Governor Ed Randell and from 2015 to 2022 before his current
term with Governor Tom Wolf As I already said he currently serves on the agriculture subcommittee of the USDA's
equity commission It is our sincerest honor to welcome Secretary Reading back
to Skooko County [Applause] Very kind Thank you Thanks Thanks for
the kind introduction Good morning everybody Can Can you move in just a little bit I feel like you're miles away
I just want to say things right like welcome to the as the flowers say a little vase of flowers whoever sent them
very nice idea it said welcome to the neighborhood thank you right and I thought what a beautiful sort of statement like welcome to the
neighborhood it's amazing to be here as secretary the highlight any day uh for
me is a chance to sort of come to a neighborhood right see somebody who is connecting both consumers and producers
finding sort of those relationships that all of us sort of desired to have we Those are challenging to to build and
maintain but you get a chance to really meet the folks who are feeding us We
have a relationship with our minister with our mechanic with our teacher Why
not the person who feeds us And to me that's the real beauty of what we see
here today It's a chance to meet the folks who feed us So to the farmers who are here I know this is part of the
objective is to connect inside this store right The folks in the
neighborhood So a show of hands of those who've got product inside of of the store please Yeah Round of applause to
the farmers as well Thank you We know that um as as they've shared this is a
journey Uh probably not sure when you started that it would end here right
project got a lot bigger as we the project got a lot bigger right And you learn things about the neighborhood you
learn things about Skookul County you you find out what's actually produced here you you learn who these consumers
are And to me the real beauty of this day is that we now have a farm store in
Pottsville Skooko County staffed by folks in this community owned by farmers
and and really folks thinking about how do they support the community Inside that store are items from this county
this town this region And what a beautiful sort of story about agriculture in both the region and how
rich this is A special note of thanks to the Skookul County economic development
community I've been with them many times Amazing very creative very thoughtful
very intentional about how do we sort of take the natural resources in this
community has and share that build that not just for the region but also around
the state of Pennsylvania I want to say thanks to the companies that are here the farmers that are here for what
you're doing Express appreciation certainly to um Desai and Angela for the
journey that they have been on They recognize the roots of this community are are deeper uh but much richer
because of the families that are here that you're with right You're you're really building that out So thank you
for doing that I think it's also a reminder for each of us that as we think
about what it takes to really sustain a community that we sometimes overlook
food But in my life I mean anytime that I've had like a really important conversation uh with folks it's around
food It's over uh it's over the table And that's an important piece But as we
think about this community as a food desert and an area that as prosperous as it is as important as it is to not have
access to food it's a basic human right and recognizing that we've got an
obligation as producers in a to share that wealth uh and our food and what we
do is part of this community I want to thank this family for also being PA preferred
There's a sign here uh and we heard earlier about what they were doing with the Ktown FFA There also folks who come
to the farm show that come to the PA preferred reception They give their
product to people right We ask a lot of folks to do that Not everybody takes us
up on the ask right These guys do I always appreciate those who give back
you see the larger story and the need right to sort of connect both PA preferred and the pride that's in that
in that brand um and sharing that is is really important and then final point
just as a note of thanks to this community right for being welcoming being thoughtful to the commissioners to
the all those who who make this work uh in different ways while you may not want to go through it twice you're here we
want you to stay here and build and build this community uh and to us the building of that community is done
through the food the relationships and the partnerships that are found uh inside some of the deepest parts of our
city connected to the rural landscape of this county and this state So on behalf of the department thank you for what you
do Thanks for the journey that you're on and we look uh look forward to how it
unfolds and being part of this journey So thank you what you do
Thank you very much Secretary Reading Thank you for being here today It's very very important And I must say my
colleague Samantha and I went to the PA preferred reception this year Was our
first time I can guarantee you we're going to be back It's quite an event We were greeted by Angela by Glenn Whis by
Consumate Farmer Boots Heatherington and others And uh we just had a great time So it was a great event And uh we'll be
back at the Farm Show complex next year We always have an entourage Today's
no different With us today on behalf of our congressman Dan Muser is his South
Regional Field Director Madison Kawako Madison Oh I'm sorry Evelyn Dian
substituting for Madison Kakaco from the uh Skugal County office Thank you
On behalf of Congressman Dan Muer welcome to Pottsville We just want to thank you for bringing your business
here Congressman Muer serves on the small business committee and he understands what it means to take a
business from concept to reality here today and have this celebration And today marks the beginning of a
partnership between your company and our office There's ever anything we can do for you on the federal side please let
us know We are happy to help I know our Pottsville office is very excited because we are just a block down the
street So I think we'll be seeing you very often But thank you for your investment in Pottsville in Scoopal
County and in the ninth congressional district as a whole Thank you
Thank you so much Evelyn another Pottsville native back home uh
working for the congressman We're very excited to have Evelyn back Now it's my great pleasure to introduce on behalf of
State Senator David Argle 29th Senatorial District not only one of his key staff members but a long time board
member of the Skooko Chamber of Commerce Mary Beth Dockerty Mary Beth
[Applause]
Thank you Bob I I remember the day we were out at your farm in pouring rain celebrating
you becoming a chamber member back then And if I remember correctly your
business at the time was in a small room with a couple freezers working out of So to see what you started with then and a
dream and a vision and determination to get you to this point today has just been an amazing journey to watch So
Senator Agel sends his sincere apologies he can't be here He did have another commitment in Hazelton He wanted to be
here to celebrate this accomplishment but on his behalf and on our entire staff We are thrilled that you're here
that you've invested in Pottsville in Skookul County You are an active and vibrant member of the chamber We love
having you as part of the chamber family So on behalf of our office congratulations and many many years of
success Thank you so much Thank you very much
Mary And next a man that really needs no introduction Everybody knows him He
knows a little bit about food too especially perogis He's the state rep right here in the 123rd Our state
representative Tim [Applause] Torzik Thank you Mr Carl It's a
wonderful to be here in Skookul County and seeing friends Love the
boots I should get a pair of boots like that that I get more respect on the farm But um it's just wonderful to welcome
you to Pottsville uh we've watched your journey the past couple years and from uh your success in the uh challenge here
in Ptosville It was wonderful because we just attended last evening and we saw
four more businesses will hopefully come down here into Pottsville and grow and
Padco's done a great job and you learned a lot from it I believe and that's really why it's so wonderful that we've
got organizations to help but it also you guys have the courage to do this It's not easy being an entrepreneur It's
not easy to go out into the wild and uh take the risk but we really appreciate
and I wish you all the luck and all the success And if there's anything we could do from our office let us know And I do
love to eat so we'll be here Thank you state
rep And now um I think a special day for our county commissioners as well So I'm
going to call them all up at one time Uh our board chair Larry Pedora our
consmate farmer Strawberries and otherwise Baron Boots Hatherington and
Gary H will the commissioners please come up and uh we'll let them say a few words uh on this great agricultural day
in Skooko County Hello everybody I want to say thank you
for doing this in here in Possible which was needed You have a a baker a farmer
and a caterer We know how important farming is We're the users especially
Gary and I of the end products Without you guys our bakery wouldn't have been there 17 137 years at Tomqua So I we
appreciate the farmers We appreciate everything you do from I remember seeing you at at night skookal or night
Pottsville when you were pregnant and then when you you had your your child And it's so great to see you doing this
in in Ptosville There was a food shortage here in downtown Pottsville You were providing something for this
community for Skookul County and also a venue for farmers to sell their products
freshly to the community Having fresh farm products is a huge asset to any
community So I just want to congratulate you We appreciate your participation in the chamber and Josiah was appointed to
one of our boards where he's going to have a great impact there So we just really appreciate everything you do and
with the work that the chamber did with you and everything Save did with the Unite Potottsville it was a great
competition and when he's won that it was amazing So I'll turn it over to my fellow commissioners
Thanks Larry Good morning I'm really really thrilled about being here today I woke up this morning
and looked at my schedule said uh ribbon cutting for the farm table store for
Josiah and Angela and started to deliver a little bit of corn this morning I had a a radiator leak on a truck and I got
it taken care of and I come roaring in that blue pickup about five minutes late I didn't want to miss this
just about But uh bottom line is I've known these two young wonderful people for a long time Uh their kids and my
they went to Penn State together Angela didn't tell you but she's also an engineer by trade a mining engineer And
I I look at these two people I see myself and my wife 40 years ago actually 45 1980 we worked at Proctor and Gamble
I did she worked at Rockwell International We walked away from corporate America a guaranteed paycheck
a guaranteed healthc care package Had this crazy dream about being farmers Okay I was down to their place two years
ago Josiah said that they started a farm No they resurrected a farm Okay Uh it
nothing not to be uh nasty or mean but there wasn't much there For two generations that farm sat idle So you
get to their place at North Man Township and it's down off the road It's off the beat down off the road So you got to
drive down in there Uh there's not a lot of parking space It's a little bit wet and muddy Uh but that that didn't slow
them down They raised some great products Problem was they have a tough place to get to No way to market it So
the next step was let's let's even crazier yet and we'll do a buy a sword So I I I admire them I know what it felt
like to walk away from a guaranteed paycheck and try to raise kids You know we we took all money we had in the world
bought a farm lived in a rented house was full of mice and and all kind of crazy stuff So I I look at them I see
myself 45 years ago and I I'm so thankful so happy Uh we do raise strawberries but for us to come to
Potottsville for three weeks of the year have one product doesn't work out They've already asked us to provide
strawberry My daughter and son-in-law Morgan and Kevin uh put up an acre of raspberry last year and they're planning
on contracting with with Joan Angela So I say I I can't be more excited more happy and proud to be here today So
thank you for what you're [Applause]
doing Again like my colleagues have said congratulations on your journey And what a journey it has been from where you
started your farm to now here in the city And also you don't realize on some things that you've made an asset here in
the community in the city of Pottsville First of all as you know right down the street we lost a grocery store which
closed up and also turned into an asset which is Alveria right now And then
naturally needed food in this area and people where to shop and especially fresh items from right from the farm
right to the table You put this here which is fulfilling a need of people that need to buy groceries and food for
their families which is outstanding Also like Secretary Reading said I'm in the
catering business and everybody else that just grows goes to the grocery store You forget how it got on those
shelves It's these folks and other farmers out there that help put that on the table That's how important
agriculture is to all of our lives And also one other factor that I always
remember a program the pots of Kuanas ran for many many years and it was the farm that this the farm the table I
think it was called farm city week Farm city week Thank you And what they did is they invited people from all the
industries and so forth on the other side other than agriculture and also the agriculture family What a better way now
not just one time a year but now here it sits for forever So congratulations
continued luck and many successes afterwards Thank you Thank you
commissioners And now we go to someone that's got to be really happy today because if you're in charge of the city
of Pottsville you want days like this So now it's my great pleasure to introduce the mayor of the great city of
Pottsville Mayor Mark Atinson [Applause]
Thank you Bob Mr Secretary welcome to Botsville to Skookul County To all of
our guests here welcome To those of you who have product inside this store thank you very much It's greatly appreciated
And to Josiah and Angela thank you for having confidence in the city and coming here and filling a very very vital role
I know it's not been an easy track Um we're working on making that better But
uh really we we cannot be more thrilled to have you guys here and opening up
shop and selling local product It's a it's a huge huge lift to us And as Bob
said yes couldn't be more proud Thank you all Thank you Thank you
mayor Also want to point out that our new I'll add one thing I didn't say it
earlier but the city um the city of Pottsville we reached out to early on and um the redevelopment authority
pointed us to this building and they said "It has a parking lot We think it'll be really great for your idea." And if it wouldn't have been for their
support and their financial support in purchasing the building we wouldn't be here today So I really I I wanted to say
that and I wanted to make sure that got in here
Thank you very much Also want to point out the new city administrator Ian Mayhal's in the back Ian raise your hand
And there's some other members of council city controller Please raise your hands Thank you very much for being
here So we talked a little bit earlier Secretary Rading pointed out the
importance of the Skooko Economic Development Corporation You don't have to tell the school chamber of commerce
because we work with them every day We're literally side by side every day
And I've watched for decades after decades long before I was at the chamber the leadership of Frank Zukas the work
of Leticia and now we have a new member of that team Uh I also want to say that
when you hear Savas in a few minutes talk a little bit more about the Ignite program The Ignite program could have
never happened without the support of obviously the Chamber Foundation but
then gratuitous donations from Sko Economic Development Corporation Senator
Argo and the state legislators offices uh Bill Metsinger and many many others
I'll miss them if I keep going on but large donations that helped us create
the $100,000 pool that ultimately the farm store won uh back in August a year
ago So it's now my pleasure to introduce today speaking on behalf of the Skooko
Economic Development Corporation their economic development manager Mark Minnik
Mark [Applause] thank you
Hello Good afternoon everybody On behalf of the Sedco staff and our board of directors we just want to congratulate
Angela Joia and your whole family for all your hard work and getting the farm store open Since Sedco's inception in
1952 we remain committed to supporting and addressing the needs in our
communities And we just again want to congratulate you guys and just let you know that we're here to support you with
whatever you need moving forward Congratulations again
Thank you Mark I also want to mention that there's a lot of board members from the Skooko Economic Development
Corporation here today Thank you Including one of their board members that served as a judge for the Ignite
Skook program Consant Banker Dave Snyder So thank you all for being
here And now he was mentioned a long time ago but we're going to call him up He is the executive director of the
potel area development corporation He is the vice chair of the chamber board of
directors As importantly he has partnered with the skookal chamber foundation with his company Wiseowl
Consulting And we're very proud that we've created the Ignite Skookul program
The Farm Store being the adult recipient now underway in a student program
creating entrepreneurial successes across the greater Skookul County region
It's my pleasure to introduce Mr Savas Logathitis
Thank you Thank you Bob As always you and your team do a tremendous job in
setting these events up getting people to these events and it's so important for our community to bring visibility to
small business especially businesses that have the impact like the farm store already has had
Um not only is it having an impact downtown it's having an impact in you
know my kitchen at home as well right So these ribe eyes where I'm cooking them
in my cast iron pan and then I'm literally able to cut them with a butter knife are the best I've ever had So
thank you for that The actual impact of the farm store goes far beyond just this building just this
business As Bob touched on and I wanted to reiterate it because I think it's important
It impacts 30 to 35 different additional farmers from Skookul County and the
surrounding area That's 30 to 35 different small businesses different
families their employees The impact goes far and wide and we appreciate that
truly And that is really what's important about the Ignite School
program It reaches the entire county It's not just Potzville It's not possible without partnership SECO is an
amazing partner The Chamber Foundation has put their money where their mouth is to impact small business The legislators
the city redevelopment authority What we're doing here is entrepreneurial economic development And
we're doing it at a very high level right now If you were in attendance last night at the launch Psville event those
are four more businesses that we think will be opening in Pottsville The impact over the last few years that this
model's had has been significant and I couldn't be happier with the
results Entrepreneurship entrepreneurship isn't easy Um you know and the results aren't the
only successful part of opening a business You also gain a network You
gain friendships throughout this process And you know I'm here to say lastly that
I couldn't be more proud of my of my friends the mechs who you know we've
gone through this process together and it's been amazing Um so on behalf of the Padco board of directors PZO Development
Corporation we're so happy to have you in POTS So thank you Thank you Sus
You know I mentioned a lot of people because we go through a list you're always going to miss some but one that's on the agenda today that we want to call
up because they were a big supporter of our entrepreneurial endeavors uh big
supporter of the chamber which we greatly appreciate It's my pleasure at this time to call up the CEO of Explore
Skook Gina Gargano Gina [Applause]
Hi everybody I am going to be very short and very sweet I'm just going to say
that we are so happy to be able to support this project this business this
whole thing uh agriculture is the number one industry and uh agurism is very very
big and it's not just big in Pennsylvania although Pennsylvania is leading the charge It really really is
And this is another thing that benefits the citizens of Skoal County
brings the county together and also gives us an opportunity to showcase the
agriculture of Skoo County in a town for the visitors that come to the town as
well as the people And I just I could not be happier uh also with the emphasis
on the entrepreneurship development piece of economic development because it's very
it's very very important It's the meat and potatoes as we all know and I'm not going to lecture with statistics about
small businesses and all that other stuff but we know that they're the heart of America We know that they are the
heart of our region and I'm just so thrilled that our organization was able to support you and
on behalf of our organization and our board of directors shout out president
of our board of directors Troy Shockham's farmer oatmeal farm products
inside the store here And I just want to say I'm I'm just very proud and very
happy and very excited for you Very very excited Thanks everybody
Thank you Gina Thank you Explorer Skook As we close today I want to make
sure that I thank the Skook Chamber of Commerce board of directors uh our officers uh all the people that always
come out to these ribbon cutings Thank you so very much I want to thank my staff I want to thank our executive vice
president Samantha Shioinsky today on site uh Tony and Sierra two of our
greatest new employees doing a great job for the chamber We've got great things ahead and uh a lot of it is because we
keep bringing in great talent and uh we very much appreciate them being on our
staff So as we close today today is a day of new beginnings A day when we not
only celebrate the opening of the store but again recognize the great power of
community and the hope that by supporting local businesses like the farm store we can build a stronger
healthier future for all of us So let's gather today in that spirit Let's support our local farmers Let's
celebrate the hard work of the team behind the farm store and continue to
build a community that values entrepreneurship sustainability and the
importance of healthy living Let's make sure we shout it from the mountaintops and have people come to this store and
support the mechs as they are committed to support our