SCRANTON, Pa. — On Tuesday, two lanes of cars lined up for several blocks leading to the Scranton Cultural Center on North Washington Avenue. Volunteers loaded up boxes of food as part of an annual Easter food and basket giveaway organized by Friends of the Poor.
Volunteers prepared 2,500 baskets for this event, and people receiving them were grateful.
"This is a good giveaway. This is great that they're doing this for people around the holiday," John Gubanics said.
"There's many people that can't supply themselves Easter, and Easter is a very important holiday, especially for Christ and Jesus," Trish Smith said.
The event is a first come, first serve drive-thru, and organizers say they are always overwhelmed by how many people they help each year. The rising cost of food make it hard for people to put food on their tables, but each box has all the fixings for a holiday feast.
"Each bag has a ham, potatoes, apples, celery, onions, carrots, a pie, eggs — because you can't have easter without eggs — and bread. It's a pretty full basket," said Linda Robeson of the Family to Family program.
In addition to the boxes of food, people are also getting easter baskets for their kids.
"I think everybody gets so excited about the Easter baskets, the actual candy Easter baskets, that they all show up very early because they want to make sure they get them," Robeson said.
"It's a blessing," Elvira Stevenson said. "There's a lot of people who don't have food this time of year, so for them to help out and give children the baskets, it's wonderful."
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