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Family to Family has been ensuring other families do not go without since 1986.

At the first Family to Family Christmas food drive in 1986, first row from left, are: Mary Burne and Matt Burne. Second row: James Burne, Mark Burne, Mary Lou Burne, James Burne and Sister Adrian Barrett, IHM, of Friends of the Poor.

Submitted Photo

At the 2009 Family to Family Christmas food drive, first row from left, are: James Burne with Bruno the dog and Mary Lou Burne. Second row: Mary Burne, Mark Burne, Matt Burne and James Burne.

Submitted Photo

SCRANTON – Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are times when families come together and spend time with one another.
But when the Burne family in Scranton gets together for the holidays, they do it in the spirit of helping hundreds of other area families enjoy the days as well.
This Christmas the family helped more than 3,000 families through an organization they founded.
Mary Lou Burne said that she and her husband James began Family to Family, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing area families with free essentials for holiday meals in 1986.
“We were driving by Lackawanna Avenue and we saw this lady walking down the street on Thanksgiving Day as we were going to my mother-in-law’s. She had kids on each side of her pushing a carriage. (Our) kids said, ‘Where is she going. Why isn’t she home cooking a turkey?’ So I called Sister Adrian (Barrett, IHM., of Friends of the Poor) and I said, ‘Why is this lady walking on Lackawanna Avenue?’ and she said she didn’t have the food (to assist her). So, the next year, we decided to do something about it,” Mary Lou said.
Their four children: James, Mark, Mary and Matt began helping immediately.
“We should give them all food,” Mary Lou recalls the children proposing at their kitchen table while planning Family to Family events to donate food to area people in need.
Matt said he was six when his family started Family to Family.
“I grew up with it,” Matt said, who is now 30. “It started as Thanksgiving, and we got so many donations from the community that what we had left over financially we started to use towards Christmas and Easter programs.”
Matt attends Barry School of Law in Orlando, Fla., but he said he and his siblings, who also reside in Florida now, “are always in town for the holidays.”
Mary Lou and James still reside in Scranton and continue to organize the food drives with the help of their family and friends and community donations.
Matt said the drives are usually conducted one or two days prior to the holidays. Food donated or purchased through donations is received on the mornings of the three food drives between 5 and 6 a.m. Set-up then begins and the doors open at 9 a.m.
“Baskets of food are given out throughout the day,” Matt said. “Around the holidays it’s so rewarding. It makes your holiday mean so much more.”
On Thanksgiving, turkeys of various sizes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread, eggs, stuffing, soda, juice and pie can be found in the baskets. And on Christmas and Easter, ham, bread, eggs, potatoes, yams, carrots, pie and juice can be found.
Matt said the food is not prepared, rather the families are meant to take them home and enjoy preparing their own meals, spending quality time together during the holidays and making family memories.
If there is any food left at the end of the day, Matt said, it is donated to Friends of the Poor, which helps operate the Family to Family drives.
Matt estimated he spends approximately 150 hours a year volunteering with Family to Family, helping plan the events and also assisting at the drives.
“It’s an extreme commitment,” he said. “But three hours – even one hour to help – can make a difference.”
“It makes a difference in your life and it keeps you grounded,” he continued. “It makes your realize that there is a need out there, and for me the reason I went to law school is to help people. There are so many people to help.”
Anyone interested in donating to Family to Family can send checks payable to Friends of the Poor, 444 Orchard St., Scranton, PA 18505 or Friends of the Poor 148 Meridian Ave., Scranton, PA 18504.
For more information, contact Friends of the Poor at 348-4428.
Family to Family

Established: 1986

Family members: Mary Lou, James, James, Mark, Mary and Matt Burne

Mission: To provide meals to families for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter

How to help: Call 348-4428 or mail donations to: to 444 Orchard St., Scranton, PA 18505 or Friends of the Poor, 148 Meridian Ave., Scranton, PA 18504. Make checks payable to “Family to Family.”