SCRANTON – For Sister Judy O’Brien, I.H.M., leading this year’s Thanksgiving Community Program is more than a responsibility.
It is a full-circle moment.
Five decades ago, Sister Adrian Barrett, I.H.M., founded what would become a significant program of Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center, inviting people who had nowhere to go to a Thanksgiving meal.
This year, Sister Judy – a longtime friend of Sister Adrian and the newly appointed President and CEO of Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center – will help carry the tradition forward as the program celebrates its 50th anniversary.
“I feel like I am walking in the shoes of Sister Adrian Barrett,” Sister Judy said during an Oct. 8 press conference at Cooper’s Seafood House in Scranton. “There were 34 people at that first event. Today, this season, we will feed 4,000 people in her name and in the name of all those people who have walked with Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley over these years.”
This year’s milestone comes at a time when the need, and the cost of meeting it, continues to grow.
Linda Robeson, Director of the Family to Family Thanksgiving Food Basket Program, said the organization hopes to provide Thanksgiving food baskets to approximately 3,500 local families this year. But the rising cost of food has made that goal more difficult.
“Turkeys, this year, unfortunately have gone up over $1 a pound,” Robeson said.
Family to Family, which is marking its 40th year, has provided food to more than 1.5 million people over the course of its history. The Thanksgiving program alone has cost approximately $120,000 in recent years.
“We want to give a nice size turkey,” Robeson explained. “We want them to have leftovers. It’s a hard market, believe it or not, to find the right size price range when you’re buying turkeys a year in advance.”
The Thanksgiving Community Program will begin with an interfaith prayer service on Friday, Nov. 13 at Temple Hesed, 1 Knox Road, Scranton. The Thanksgiving Community Dinner will follow on Nov. 24 at the Scranton Cultural Center, 420 North Washington Avenue, Scranton, with drive-through and walk-up meals available from 2:30-5:30 p.m., or until supplies last.
On Nov. 25, Family to Family will distribute Thanksgiving food baskets at the Scranton Cultural Center from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., or until supplies last.
For Sister Judy, the effort is ultimately about much more than food.
“This is what we’re supposed to do,” she said. “It is not an obligation. It is a centering of the true meaning of Thanksgiving and the holiday season.”
And she emphasized, it cannot happen without the community.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of people who will stand with us this holiday season to help our neighbors in need,” Sister Judy said. “We could not do this without the community.”
HOW TO HELP
50th THANKSGIVING COMMUNITY PROGRAM
Tuesday, November 24, 2026
Thanksgiving Community Dinner
To donate or volunteer, visit fotpcmc.org or call (570) 342-1342
Wednesday, November 25, 2026
Family to Family Food Basket Distribution
To donate, send a check to:
Family to Family
PO Box 13
Scranton, PA 18501