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Friends of the Poor prepares for first-ever drive-thru dinner

The organization's 44th Thanksgiving event is facing changes due to the pandemic.

SCRANTON, Pa. — For 44 years, Friends of the Poor has hosted its Thanksgiving dinner for the community in downtown Scranton.

But they've never had a year quite like 2020.

Volunteers are putting in extra work to pull off a drive-thru dinner this year. 

Packing 3,000 people inside the ballroom at the Scranton Cultural Center seems unfathomable now, but so was canceling the Friends of the Poor Thanksgiving dinner event. 

"Because we've done this for so many decades, people really rely on it. And there's more need now than there's ever been before. So, in my mind, canceling was out of the question. It was just trying to prepare for, 'are we going back to red phase? Yellow phase? Are we going to be under a stay-at-home order, and how do we get the food out?'" said Meghan Loftus, president of Friends of the Poor. 

Friends of the Poor has made some big changes. Each meal will be served in microwaveable takeout containers and distributed drive-thru style on Tuesday.

That's presented some logistical challenges for volunteers. They did more prep work ahead of time, pre-packaging pies, rolls, and cranberry sauce.

It will all be stored in coolers overnight. 

"Everything is individually wrapped, and we're trying to keep our distance from each other here while still working in an assembly line fashion," said volunteer Mary O'Bell.

Of course, feeding people is only part of Friends of the Poor's goal each Thanksgiving. That social interaction will be missing this year.

But longtime volunteers say it will only make next year's dinner even sweeter.

"It definitely is sad that we're not going to see our friends here at the dinner. It will be different at the drive-thru, but we'll still have a chance to see and say hello from a distance," said Brian Williams of Scranton.

Folks can pick up their Thanksgiving meals between 2:30 and 5:30 Tuesday afternoon. 

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