After year of Zoom calls, local family gets surprise reunion on GMA
NORTH HANOVER, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A Philadelphia family featured on 6abc last year for their weekly pandemic Zoom calls was surprised on "Good Morning America" with a reunion at a vacation home in Burlington County, New Jersey.
The family members live all over the country and reunited for a nationally televised surprise for 86-year-old Aunt Opera.
"She's the matriarch of the family; she's the glue that keeps us together," said Angela Davis from Cheltenham, Pa.
Action News first met the Lawson Family last year, interviewing them about their weekly Zoom calls.
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The calls were a way the family could safely see each other, but also keep each other informed.
Davis, who helped organize the calls, said the family would also invite guest speakers, including political scientists during elections and health experts to discuss vaccine safety.
"There's a pre-call. There's an executive team. Each week, we prepare the call," Davis said.
This is a tight-knit family that for 45 years held family reunions each July. The reunions were put on hold in the pandemic, set to resume next summer.
But that changed when GMA surprised the Lawson family, reuniting them in a vacation home in North Hanover for family-time together, with the help of sponsor Vrbo.
In essence, Davis said, "It's everything to us, to all of us."
