Nov 16, 2025 By Jon Andreassi 3 min read

For eight years Ma and Pop’s Country Kitchen in Bethel Park has been helping those in need on Thanksgiving by providing free meals.

Erica Diethorn, who owns the restaurant along with her husband, Stephen Diethorn, says the need may be even greater this year.

With the ongoing delay in SNAP benefits due to the shutdown of the federal government, Diethorn said they are stocking up on more food than they did last year.

Diethorn said they are “a little bit worried” about folks in the community who rely on the program.

“It’s kind of worrisome,” Diethorn said.

She noted that there are many families in the South Hills who are being affected by the delay in benefits.

“I know that people don’t think that Bethel Park families, South Park, Mt. Lebanon, Bridgeville, they don’t think that a lot of people are in need. They think more of the inner city, but they’re wrong,” Diethorn said.

She added that she personally knows people who rely on SNAP to feed their families.

“It’s not that these people don’t work. They just don’t make enough to afford much in food once they pay for the rising costs of utilities and rent,” Diethorn said.

Though Diethorn and her husband have already started buying and freezing ingredients, the real work begins the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. That is when volunteers form an assembly line at their restaurant to prepare the meals.

Each person gets a turkey meal and a ham meal. Last year, Diethorn said they gave out 1,100 meals to 550 people.

“So we were anticipating this year, maybe more, because of the economic situation,” Diethorn said.

Ma and Pop’s Country Kitchen, located at 2840 South Park Road, Bethel Park, provides the meals from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. They offer dine-in, pickup and delivery options.

They ask that anyone who may be in need reserve their meal before Nov. 21. Reservations can be made by calling 412-595-8451 and pressing option two to leave a message with your request.

So far, Ma and Pop’s Country Kitchen has already received calls from nearly 300 people.

Diethorn says they continue the Thanksgiving tradition because they have the means to be able to provide the assistance.

“First of all, I feel like if you’re in a position to be able to help people, in my faith, I believe that we should,” Diethorn said.

She added that she also feels it is important to give back to the community.

“If you’re going to be a business person in an area, it’s important to become a part of that area,” Diethorn said.