Salvation Army hosts annual Thanksgiving Day lunch
(From left) Cassi McArdle, Ashli Stout, Rachel Magerko-Doman, Nancy Rossell, Donna Heitz and Peggy Maimone, all students and instructors at the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School, serve dinner to guests at the Salvation Army Thanksgiving Day lunch on Wednesday. With warmth and hospitality, the Salvation Army in Uniontown hosted its annual Thanksgiving Day lunch Wednesday, serving all the trimmings to 310 guests, the highest turnout in six years.
Vases full of red, brown and gold flowers and silverware wrapped in holiday-theme napkins decorated the seven tables that seated 12 people each.
Fifteen minutes into the meal, Captain Alma Riley opened the partition between the lunchrooms, revealing four more tables, which was required to accommodate steadily growing number of guests.
“I don’t know what it is,” Riley said. “There have been 100 more families than last year that have asked for Christmas assistance this year. There very well may be more people based on that. But, overall, I believe that it is a day to be thankful, and a lot of people come out to socialize and to do just that … be thankful.”
More than 30 volunteers helped to serve meals and to assist in the clean up throughout the length of the meal, which ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Volunteers from the Bon Ton department store and the Fayette County Vocational-Technical Student Council attended to assist in meal serving. On Tuesday, a Girl Scout troop contributed its part to the meal by wrapping silverware in napkins. Donations of turkeys, potatoes, yams, celery, cookies and pies were gifts from local businesses, churches, organizations and residents.
The lunch marks two years that the vo-tech student council and their advisors have volunteered to serve at the Salvation Army.
Nancy Rossell, advisor of the council, said that the students volunteering at the meals “become aware of the needs, so they can help out in the community.”
“It is a really enlightening experience for the students,” Rossell said. “They usually do not notice during their everyday experiences that homeless people are here in Fayette County. It is a nice thing that they do here at the Salvation Army.”
Rossell said that the volunteering is a part of the student council’s commitment to its “Make a Difference” campaign, where the students and advisors attempt to volunteer their services at a different site each month.
Peggy Maimone normally serves meals to students as a part of her everyday schedule at the Fayette County Vo-Tech school, but she has sidetracked from her normal routine to pile on healthy portions of the turkey, mashed and sweet potatoes, stuffing and green beans to hungry guests.
“I always wanted to come out,” said Maimone, noting that this was her first year volunteering at the Salvation Army.
Janet Skelton, a 16-year-old volunteer, has served meals at the Salvation Army since she was eight years old, when her aunt introduced her to the value of volunteering. Now, Skelton works alongside her mother, cooking and serving food to guests.
Although no time limit is set for those enjoying the meal, guests, out of generosity and care, move aside in order to make room for fellow meal-goers who stream in by the dozen.
“We want people to have a seat and relax,” Riley said. “That is how we handle all activities that go on here. All are invited to enjoy the meals. It is a community event.”
For the past six years, Alma and husband, John Riley, both captains of the Salvation Army in Uniontown, have made efforts to change the image of the provided meals that are served on Christmas Eve and Good Friday, as well as on Thanksgiving. One of the primary changes to the meal program has been the change of its name from “Soup Kitchen” to “Lunch Program.”
“When you think of ‘soup kitchen,’ images are automatically conjured up,” Riley said. “We do not want those images associated with the name, so we changed the name to ‘lunch program,’ put up window treatments, nice pictures on the walls and table flowers. When people come in, it is a warm, welcoming environment where they gather and meet friends … like a neighborhood diner. We want them to feel at home.
“The mission of the Salvation Army is to try to meet people’s physical needs so that people are more receptive to having their spiritual needs met,” Riley added. “If someone is hungry, they are less likely to have their spiritual needs met. This is the way that the Salvation Army shows people God’s love.”