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| On Thanksgiving 2009 |
Above, volunteers at Oak Hill Cathedral of Glory serve a Thanksgiving meal to a patron at the church on Thursday. Helping are (from left) Linda Pace, Kay Robertson, Rozetta Jones and Angel Scales. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
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Friday, November 27, 2009
By ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer
Local cooks worked overtime to make sure hundreds of people had Thanksgiving dinner this week.
Creed Taylor, a member of the Oak Hill Cathedral of Glory Church in Bassett, said there was enough food at that church’s community Thanksgiving dinner to feed 150 people.
Wednesday night, Christ Episcopal Church provided an evening dinner for about 120 people. Members donated 12 turkeys, the youth group contributed eight pumpkin pies and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church provided manpower as well as monetary and food donations. The churches had 12 turkeys and 20 people helped cook and serve.
Orchard Drive Baptist Church delivered Thanksgiving meals Thursday morning. By noon, 600 meals were delivered to families in need in Henry and Patrick counties. More than 40 church members helped prepare the dinners.
At Oak Hill Cathedral, 30 people helped cook, organize and serve the dinners, Taylor said. The meals were free to anyone in the area, he said.
Many visitors took their food home, but they also were invited to stay and eat. Taylor said there were people waiting in line at noon when they opened the doors to serve dinner.
Ten people brought in cooked Thanksgiving meals, complete with whole turkeys and side dishes, he said. The platters were filled with turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and homemade cakes.
Kay Robertson of Bassett said she prepared enough food for two meals. She brought one batch to the church and one was waiting at home for her family to eat.
The meal was an outreach program put on by church members, said Judy Taylor, who also is a member of the Cathedral of Glory. She said the volunteers didn’t mind giving up their Thanksgiving to provide meals for others.
Most volunteers spend a few hours working, said Creed Taylor. Some came by for an hour and others worked two or three shifts before the dinner ended by 4 p.m., he said.
By 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Rozetta Jones of Bassett estimated that more than 50 people had picked up Thanksgiving meals and taken them home. Some people, such as Esther Gibson of Fieldale, called ahead to reserve several meals, which they picked up later, she said.
Many of the volunteers said they had cooked their family meals while preparing food for the church, so they didn’t have much cooking left to do after they were through at the church.
Lou Edmond of Stanleytown said this was the first year in a long time when she didn’t have to work. Normally, her daughter, Rozetta Jones, said, the family ate a small meal at five and then had a bigger meal later when Edmond got off work.
“This year,” Edmond said “we’re just going to have one big meal at five.”
Eating early is important because of sales at stores that open before dawn on the day after Thanksgiving, said Judy Taylor. She planned to get up at 3 a.m. this morning and drive to Charlotte, N.C., for Christmas shopping.
Robertson agreed, saying she would be at the Liberty Fair Mall this morning — but not quite as early as Taylor.
Other churches in the community, including the Friendly Worship Center in Ridgeway, also helped provide people with Thanksgiving meals. |
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