Grapevine Center serves up early Thanksgiving turkey
Thanksgiving arrived a week early for dozens of community members who piled into the Grapevine Center on Thursday, Nov. 20, for the Center’s annual Gratitude and Thanksgiving dinner, held in partnership with the Church of God in Connoquenessing Township.
“It's just a dinner to give back to the community and to the members here who are going through tough times,” said Matthew Karns, organizer of the event. “It's been a very difficult year for some.”
According to Matthew Karns’ father, Pastor Keith Karns of the Church of God, between 70 and 80 patrons were expected to attend this year’s feast, which was staffed and prepared primarily by volunteers from the church.
“The ladies from the church have been cooking turkeys and pies and all the trimmings for the last few days,” Karns said. “We've even had some of our young people involved in doing some of the cooking.”
The younger Karns said this year’s meal was particularly important due to the economic uncertainty many people in Western Pennsylvania are facing.
“We've had the government shutdown and that's impacted them quite a bit,” Matthew said. “They may not have had the funds to be able to put a meal like this together, so we're really glad we can do that for them.”
Prior to the start of dinner, Keith Karns gave the invocation by reading a verse from 1st Thessalonians: “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”
