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Helping Hundreds of Families at Thanksgiving

SCRANTON — A holiday tradition is underway to make this a happier Thanksgiving for hundreds of families. The line outside Covenant Presbyterian Church alo...

SCRANTON -- A holiday tradition is underway to make this a happier Thanksgiving for hundreds of families.

The line outside Covenant Presbyterian Church along Madison Avenue in Scranton says it all: families and individuals in a long line to get Thanksgiving food from United Neighborhood Centers.

It's an organization that received some of its donations through WNEP's Feed A Friend program.

Fred Clark was in the line, temporarily unemployed and from a low-income family.

"Thanksgiving is about appreciating what you have, not what is given to you, but this is very much appreciated and thanks to the help and people here, we are able to provide from our families," said Clark.

Clark said this is the difference between a happy Thanksgiving dinner and chicken for the holiday.

Volunteers, including Valley View High School students, are helping to get the food to those in need.

"One thing I learned from this is no matter what, people come together during the holidays, no matter what the circumstances," said Vito Romano.

Students said they were happy to help those in need during the holidays.

When all is said and done, United Neighborhood Centers expects to feed 1,500 families this year and that's more than last year, many are the working poor.

"The need is there. We see more and more people every year. We see more working families who can't, who don't have enough to afford a special Thanksgiving dinner," said United Neighborhood Centers' Tammy Marcinkevich.

Sam Waltos does what he can to help his family make ends meet.

"Even people who are working, minimum wage, you can't live off minimum wage."

United Neighborhood Centers says donations started off slow this year, but they picked up and supply should meet demand.

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