Area residents embrace volunteerism to feed Thanksgiving meals to needy
A biting wind and swirling snowflakes could not keep volunteers from helping to serve free local Thanksgiving meals. While spokesmen for many local churches and soup kitchens said that turnout for meals was about average, volunteers and donations seemed to be at an all-time high. In fact, at one local dinner, there were two volunteers for every person in attendance.
“It was amazing,” said Barb Stuart, one of the coordinators of a holiday meal served at the Connellsville Senior Citizens Center. “Everybody had a lovely time. All the volunteers want to do it again.”
According to Stuart, the event, sponsored by the City Church of Connellsville, the Solid Rock Church, the World Christian Outreach and the Connellsville Church of God, brought out 148 volunteers, more than twice the number of meals the volunteers served.
“It was a big crowd,” Stuart said. “It goes to show you that people can work together to show Christ’s love.”
In this the third year the congregations have provided the meal, volunteers overwhelmed event coordinators, who expected about 60 people, the number that participated last year. Stuart said that the outreach of eight local churches helped to make the event a success.
“It is wonderful, a real blessing,” she said.
Carrie Lawson, youth director of New Beginnings Church in Uniontown, also thought that this year’s meal was a blessing to volunteers and was happy with the overall turnout.
“It is a blessing for us,” she said. “We come here to bless them, but we usually get blessed just as much.”
Lawson said that about 30 volunteers served 122 meals from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., eight meals fewer than last year. Lawson said that all the food for the event was donated and prepared by church members and the youth group, which sponsored the meal.
“We just want to reach out to the community and to families,” Lawson said.
Theresa Gladden of the Brownsville Soup Kitchen said she too wants to reach out to the families in the community, especially at Thanksgiving.
“I like to help people who help themselves,” Gladden said. “We do whatever we can for people in need.”
According to Gladden, the soup kitchen served about 172 meals this year, with 112 of those delivered to shut-ins. She said that she expected a bigger turnout and thought the weather kept a lot of people home.
Gladden said that this year the soup kitchen provided a new service for some families with children to be able to have Thanksgiving dinner at home. With the help of state Rep. Pete Daley and the Fayette County Community Action Agency, Gladden provided 45 complete turkey dinners for families to pick up from the soup kitchen and enjoy at home. She said it is outreach efforts like this that help people when they are out of options.
Gladden, who started the soup kitchen in 1984 and has been volunteering her time since 1974, said that through community service, people gain hope and a helping hand.
“People come to us when all the money is gone,” Gladden said. “I often think to myself, ‘What I would do if I woke up and only had 50 cents?'”
Those in need in Greene County could find a warm meal at Good Neighbors Lunch in Waynesburg’s St. Ann Roman Catholic Church.
Coordinator Joan Spaulding said that about 20 volunteers served 75 meals from noon to 1 p.m., about average for the Thanksgiving meal. In keeping with past practice, Rohanna’s Restaurant in Waynesburg provided all the turkey.
Spaulding also said this is the ninth year for the dinner and that she would not want to be anywhere else for Thanksgiving.
“For the holidays, this is my family,” she said. “I do this to feed me.”
The Rev. Larry Gipe, a spokesman for the Good Works Center near Fairchance, said that this year nearly 100 meals were served to the community, with plenty of volunteers and donations helping to make the event a success.
“It is something we feel we are supposed to do to serve the community.”
In addition to holiday meals served Thursday, some local organizations served meals for Thanksgiving on Wednesday. The Salvation Army in Uniontown held its annual Thanksgiving lunch, serving 310 meals, the highest turnout in six years, with more than 309 volunteers helping to serve. In addition, the Jubilee Soup Kitchen in Uniontown served a holiday meal Wednesday.