{"id":213801,"date":"2026-06-08T17:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/213801\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T17:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:13:07","slug":"leadership-transition-at-friends-of-the-poor-and-catherine-mcauley-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/213801\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership transition at Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nonprofit Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center in Scranton will undergo a leadership transition with the departure of President\/CEO Meghan Loftus in the fall and a search for her successor now getting underway, the board of directors announced.<\/p>\n

Loftus joined the Friends of the Poor nine years ago as the first layperson to lead that organization and then became president\/CEO of the combined FOTP\/CMC agency as part of a merger completed last summer. In announcing her eventual exit, the board cited Loftus\u2019 \u201cleadership, dedication and unwavering commitment to our mission and the individuals and families we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we begin the search for our next President & CEO, we want to assure our partners, supporters, participants, community agencies, and the broader community that all FOTP\/CMC programs and services will continue without interruption. Meghan\u2019s contributions have strengthened our organization, expanded our reach, and positively impacted countless lives throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania,\u201d the board said in a statement issued Friday. \u201cWe are deeply grateful for her years of service and the strong foundation she has helped build alongside the exceptionally dedicated staff and leadership team of FOTP\/CMC. We look forward to continuing this important work and building upon the organization\u2019s momentum in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview Monday, Loftus said she would stay at the helm into fall to give the agency time to search for and select a new leader and make a transition. Married with two young children ages 1 and 6, she wants to be able to spend more time with her family and also intends to do some teaching and consulting work. With a doctorate in Public Administration, she teaches American Government and Nonprofit Management at theUniversity of Scranton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the right time for me and my family and for the organization\u201d to both move in new directions, Loftus said.<\/p>\n

Legacy charities merged<\/p>\n

Last fall, the two Catholic-faith-based nonprofit organizations that provide housing, shelter, food, clothing and other assistance to needy residents announced they had completed a merger on Aug. 1. The Catherine McAuley Center and Friends of the Poor, founded in 1984 and 1986 respectively, began exploring a merger nearly two years earlier and began sharing space a year earlier at the McAuley Center at 430 Pittston Ave. in South Side. The merged entity took both names with a new title of \u201cFriends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center\u201d and Loftus became president and CEO of the combined organization.<\/p>\n

The merger came in response to increased needs for housing and shelter for disadvantaged families and growing food insecurity among marginalized residents. Both organizations had seen increased need for their services during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterward the needs have only grown. The merger created operational efficiencies in addressing such needs.<\/p>\n

Friends of the Poor was founded in 1986 by the late Sister Adrian Barrett, I.H.M., who was also known as \u201cSister Sneakers.\u201d A decade earlier, in 1976, Barrett had started community holiday dinners. In 1986, the Burne family started food-basket giveaways and teamed with Barrett. The charitable endeavors have grown into an annual Thanksgiving Community Program.<\/p>\n

Formerly with an administrative office at Marywood University in Green Ridge, Friends of the Poor grew from 2\u00bd employees in July of 2017 \u2014 when Loftus succeeded Sister Ann Walsh, I.H.M. to became the first layperson to head up the organization \u2014 to 16 staffers in 2024, reflecting the growing need for assistance. Outgrowing its space at Marywood, and with many clients in South Scranton, merging with the McAuley center on Pittston Avenue made operational sense.<\/p>\n

Named for the Irish Catholic founder of the Sisters of Mercy in 1831 in Ireland, the Catherine McAuley Center in Scranton was founded by the late Sister Anne Paye, a former dean and professor at Misericordia University, where she was known as Sister Mary Paul. In 1983, Sister Anne along with Sisters Dorothy McLaughlin and Elizabeth Brandreth decided to help Scranton area women with housing needs by developing the St. Joseph Lithuanian Convent in North Scranton into a shelter that became known as the Catherine McAuley Center. The center had expanded over the years and into nine centers in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, providing shelter for women and their children, according to the obituary of Paye, who died in 2017.<\/p>\n

Now with a staff of 30 and a motto of \u201cA Partnership for the Common Good,\u201d the combined Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center \u201cworks to alleviate impacts of poverty while fostering human dignity and self-sufficiency throughout Northeast Pennsylvania,\u201d according to the leadership transition announcement. To learn more about the agency, its programs and services or to get involved, see www.fotpcmc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I began (with Friends of the Poor), it was very much a grassroots, all-volunteer organization and the growth over time has been incredible. But we\u2019ve never lost that grassroots feel of volunteers, donors and the people we serve. We\u2019ve never drifted from our mission,\u201d Loftus said. \u201cIn the merger, we\u2019ve always made every decision with the people we serve in mind. If you focus on the people you serve, everything will be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MeghanMeghan Loftus, President\/CEO of the nonprofit Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center in Scranton. (PHOTO SUBMITTED \/ FOTP AND CMC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nonprofit Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center in Scranton will undergo a leadership transition with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,803,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-213801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}