Giving Thanks and Helping Our Neighbors in Need

While many of us look forward to the Thanksgiving feast that we enjoy each year with family and friends, not everyone has the means to do so. That’s where Marywood’s Thanksgiving Adopt-A-Family program steps in, assisting local families in need and ensuring that as many as possible have a meal to share with their loved ones on this special holiday.

Members of the Marywood community—students, faculty, and staff—volunteer to help in a number of ways, whether through monetary donations to buy needed groceries or by packing and delivering the food items needed to prepare a Thanksgiving meal. Among the many who participate are Mary Roche, Secretary for the Social Sciences Department, and Karen Rossmell, Secretary for the Psychology & Counseling Department, who also is an IHM Associate.

Mary helps by preparing donated Thanksgiving food baskets and delivering them to families the weekend before Thanksgiving. Mary sees her participation, and the spirit of the program, as “a commitment to promoting social responsibility, which fosters community engagement to meet real needs.”

Karen, who lends a hand by posting flyers on campus to raise awareness and by collecting and giving money, said the campus community’s efforts at Thanksgiving (and through a Christmas initiative that benefits the Catherine McAuley House) demonstrate Marywood’s Core Value of Service. “We are to help those who are less fortunate and unable to help themselves,” she said. “By doing this, we are following in Jesus’s footsteps showing love and kindness to others.”

Thanksgiving Adopt-A-Family, Christmas Giving Trees, and Other Service Opportunities 

The Catherine McAuley Center