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Need for food continues during pandemic

Friends of the Poor, Family to Family resume food distributions in Scranton.

SCRANTON, Pa. — Two charitable organizations in Scranton teamed up Wednesday to feed families financially impacted by the pandemic.

It's an effort they started back in April, never expecting to still be at it all these months later. 

The long line of cars at Scranton High School Tuesday afternoon says a lot about the state of things for families impacted financially by the pandemic.

They were lined up long before Friends of the Poor and Family to Family set up their food distribution. The organizations have done close to 30 distributions like it since April.

"You always hope things would get better. And you hope people will be able to get back to work. But we're not seeing that happen. As a result, people are lining up. You can see it right here, they're lining up, and we're not even going to get going for another half hour," said volunteer Lee Termini of Clarks Summit.

Termini is one of the volunteers who has come to help out for each one of the food distributions. It's a commitment he made at the beginning of the pandemic that he never thought he'd still be doing in 2021.

The volunteers get all of the food unpacked in a matter of minutes and start getting that line of cars moving. Termini said he will be here as long as these food distributions are needed. 

"My family and I, we've had a pretty good life. I can't complain. So, if there's others in need, you step in," he said.

Friends of the Poor and Family to Family have no plans to stop, either. 

"A very happy day will be the day that we can go back to only giving around the holidays when it might be a happier occasion. But, until that time comes, we're just going to do the best that we can every week, or every other week, depending upon the weather," said Linda Robeson, of Family to Family.

Family to Family and Friends of the Poor fed close to 400 families Tuesday. The organizations plan to hold distributions of that size weekly throughout the rest of the winter. 

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