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Newcomers to the United States from around the world gathered Sunday to celebrate their first Thanksgiving in the City of Brotherly Love.

“Thankful Together” was organized by HIAS Pennsylvania, a Philly-based organization that supports low-income immigrants with legal and social services to aid their new lives in the United States. Traditional Thanksgiving holiday dishes were shared among those at the Old Pine Community Center.

Executive Director Cathryn Miller-Wilson said the event helped people assimilate to get to know each other, and showcased the best of what Philadelphia has to offer.

“It’s telling Philadelphians that this is what we do,” Miller-Wilson said. “We teach them how to become your neighbors and your friends and your members of your church and all of that.”

The organization originally focused on immigrating Jewish refugees to the United States when it started in 1882 before expanding to aid people of all backgrounds. All these years later, Miller-Wilson said the organization’s core tenets are still directly tied to its Jewish base.

“The Torah says to welcome the stranger 36 times,” Miller-Wilson said. “It’s the most repeated commandment.”

The gathering followed the 2024 presidential election where former President Donald Trump emerged victorious, becoming the second president-elect to win two non-consecutive terms. Trump’s proposed immigration policies include mass deportations of undocumented residents and an end to birthright citizenship.

National and local leaders addressed attendees before meals were served, including Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon.

“We’re going to keep working to make sure that this remains a welcoming country and pushing back against any forms of hatred and exclusion,” Scanlon said.

City councilmember Jamie Gauthier, whose mother immigrated to Southwest Philadelphia from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as a teenager, said welcoming people to the city is personal.

“She came here with the same determination and the same hopes that you all had and she was able to build a life for herself and for our family,” Gauthier said. “And that helped me to become the person that I am today.”

Miller-Wilson wrote a critique of Trump’s policies shortly after he clinched the presidency saying the organization will continue to provide services “regardless of who is in the White House.”

“We know many of you are anxious about the future, and so are we,” Miller-Wilson told attendees ahead of meals being served. “But we know the future will be better because you are sharing the present with us. And we will be here, no matter what, to ensure we can share the future together.”