SCRANTON -- It's the payoff of your generosity and a lot of hard work by the United Neighborhood Centers along with WNEP's Feed A Friend food drive.
Many of your donations to WNEP's Feed A Friend program end up at St. Mary's Center in Scranton where volunteers are helping United Neighborhood Centers distribute the ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal.
Officials from UNC say throughout the day, they will give Thanksgiving meal baskets to more than 1,000 families in need.
Your donations of money and food to Feed A Friend have helped this program for decades. Officials say anything left at the end of the day is put into food pantries across our area.
Everyone who comes to St. Mary's Center in Scranton for a Thanksgiving food basket has a reason for being there. Jennifer Clanton's hands were full of her reason.
"It's really hard for the holidays. I'm pregnant right now with another one on the way and I've got him, so it means a lot to me, it really does," said Jennifer Clanton of Scranton.
UNC volunteers will be working until 6 p.m. Tuesday distributing all the food.
In all, more than 1,000 families will be fed the fixings of a Thanksgiving meal because of this program. It's run by United Neighborhood Centers in Scranton and supported by your donations to WNEP's Feed A Friend.
"I like to know that anybody in our community has this one day when they're sharing in a special meal. And so there's nobody left out, everybody in the community has what they need on Thanksgiving," said Gus Fahey, United Neighborhood Centers.
It takes about 200 volunteers to make sure this all runs smoothly, and some of those volunteers know what it's like to be on the other side of the line.
"I thought it would be a good idea to do it here today. I enjoy it.," said Nautis Kenderdine.
Kenderdine is a student at Scranton High School. She's missing class for a very good reason. She's helped out here for two years now. Years before, she was on the receiving end; Thanksgiving baskets provided a holiday her family wasn't able to afford back then.
"I love helping people because it makes me feel good that someone was there to help us."
Nautis is now feeding the machine that once fed her.
"People have their struggles, and it's good to know there's someone there for you, even if you don't really know them know them, but it's just a good feeling to know that someone's there for you."
We want to clarify information that aired Monday on Newswatch 16. This distribution is separate from one that will be held Wednesday at the Scranton Cultural Center through the Family To Family program.
