Two Scranton-based nonprofits combine to better serve people in need in Northeast Pa.

Two faith-based organizations in Scranton have combined missions to ensure the most vulnerable members of the community have access to housing, food and support services.

“Our end goals are the same,” said Meghan Loftus. “And so it's a natural partnership that's just going to make us stronger together and able to be more sustainable and serve more people in need.”

Loftus is now the president/CEO of Friends of the Poor & Catherine McAuley Center.

Sister Adrian Barrett founded the nonprofit Friends of the Poor in 1986 with support from the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas began Catherine McAuley in 1984.

For years, their mostly volunteer teams of mostly volunteers have worked closely to serve individuals and families in need in Northeast Pennsylvania.

“We gravitated to each other by virtue of mission and ministry,” Sister Ann Walsh said. She was with Friends of the Poor for 15 years.

Friends of the Poor most often helped with food insecurity while Catherine McAuley provided housing, especially for women experiencing homelessness, she said.

Walsh said the two organizations always referred people to each other.

The organizations have both been working out of the Catherine McAuley Center on Pittston Avenue in Scranton and will stay there.

“The services will not be interrupted. In fact, they'll just be stronger,” Loftus said.

The merger creates a new board with Lee Termini at the helm.

"Our population that we serve, unfortunately, keeps growing. So some folks that have shelter needs or food insecurity, they're the same people,” he said. “We're going to be able to serve them better, I think, and ultimately serve more people, which is our real goal.”

Growing need for services

Loftus said since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, they have experienced an increased need in services — especially for those living in what she called "the benefit cliff," where they’re not eligible for public government services but they don’t make enough money to get by.

"With every day that passes, every season that passes, we do get more and more calls for help,” she said. “We're really seeing an increase at our food pantries and our housing programs and our clothing programs.”

When Walsh first started at Friends of the Poor’s pantry, they’d see maybe 30 families a day, she said.

“We're seeing 200 families a day,” Walsh said of their main food pantry.

They now have satellite pantries throughout Lackawanna County.

Loftus said as long as poverty exists, so does Friends of the Poor & Catherine McCauley Center.

“We knew that we needed to be here for the long term, and we needed to be as efficient as we could with our resources to serve as many people as we can,” she said.