In June 2025, the Christ Episcopal Church (CEC) partnered with the Pocono Raceway for their 2025 NASCAR Race Weekend event.
Stroudsburg High School’s (SHS) Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club had the opportunity to volunteer and help out the church’s Food Pantry. The CEC received $93 for every volunteer who chose to help out at the Raceway.
Students who decided to help out had to reach out to Debby Campbell, the CEC Food Pantry coordinator, and let her know which days they were available.
NASCAR racing has three tiers, and there was one tier of competition each day: the Craftsman Truck Series on June 20, the Xfinity Series on June 21, and finally, the Cup Series, concluding on June 22.
Each day lasted from 7 a.m. and the finishing time depended on the length of the race and consisted of volunteers manning sections of the grandstand, the seating for the audience, and scanning tickets if necessary.
When signing up to volunteer, Campbell encouraged individuals to bring along their families or friends to also help out.
She was also seen volunteering throughout the weekend, and her favorite part happened on the final day when she was “scanning tickets and getting people in when the rain was over.”
The final day was the most eventful, not just because it was the Cup series, but also because the entire stadium was in Weather One. This meant that there was lightning within 15 miles of the racetrack, and this was dangerous since the stands were metal.
Volunteers warned people to be careful and kept them off the grandstand. Most of the masses went back to their cars for shelter, some of them stayed under the grandstand, and some of them were camped out in their RVs for the whole weekend, so they went back to their “houses.”
The rain and lightning lasted around two hours, but afterward, workers dried the track, and the race was back on.
Overall, the rain didn’t bring down spirits, and the crowd was more riled up than ever by the time the race started.
Chase Briscoe, driving the No. 19 red Toyota, won the Cup Series now for the third time, following up on his previous victories in 2022 and 2024.
The Mountaineer managed to get a quick interview with Kimberly Rose, the incredible woman behind the action who held together all the workers and volunteers during the races.
She informed, “The volunteer program at Pocono Raceway allows non-profit organizations to have an easy and quick way to earn a chunk of money for their organization.”
Rose has been working at the track for almost 30 years, and she started off by working for a volunteer group. Now, even her daughter helps out at the raceway.
This year, it seemed there weren’t as many volunteers as they normally have, but “it varies from year and year and day to day throughout the weekend.”
This is only the second time that the CEC Food Pantry has worked with Pocono Raceway; however, both Campbell and Rose remain hopeful that the relationship continues.