Church distributes more than 1,000 meals
A group of volunteers spent Thursday surrounded by enough food for more than 1,000 Thanksgiving dinners.
Although they spent long hours preparing and then distributing about 1,500 meals Wednesday and Thursday, the volunteers of St. Michael the Archangel church, located at 432 Center Ave., were thankful they were able to provide for others.
“You enjoy doing it for the people who need it,” said Jayme Russo, one of the organizers of the distribution.
According to Nevins Parkinson, who acts as dispatcher for the distribution, the church has been hosting a Thanksgiving meal distribution for more than two decades. He took on a larger organizational role in 2005, which he said is when the distribution began growing exponentially.
On Wednesday, a group of about 20 people spent 12 hours preparing foods, including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and desserts. On Thursday, they gave the meal boxes out from the church to delivery drivers and people coming in to pick up their orders.Kelly Zaccari, coordinator of the distribution, said this year is the first time the church used an online platform to systematize volunteers, drivers and food orders, which helped get more people involved in the operation.Zaccari also said there are no requirements to register to get a meal box, but typically they go to people who don't have anywhere else to go on Thanksgiving.“We usually pack one to four meals for families who don't have enough to cook for,” she said. “There are no qualifications, we don't turn anybody away.”
The kitchen and common area of the church Thursday resembled an assembly line as people pulled up to get their meals and volunteers grabbed their designated boxes and loaded them into their vehicles. Parkinson called it “controlled chaos” because the volunteers had to do a lot of box shuffling and reorganizing on the fly.St. Peter's Anglican Church, which is another member church of All Saints Parish, also gave out cold meals from its hall on New Castle Street throughout the day.
Parkinson said many people involved Thursday have been volunteers for the distribution for years, which keeps morale up and distribution efficient.“A lot of volunteers have been doing this for years,” he said. “They keep coming back, which we appreciate.”Zaccari said the distribution also gets support from local organizations and individuals. Two American Legion posts in the county donate turkeys and other food to the effort, and many others give money, sides and desserts.
She said the number of people getting turkeys is down this year and last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic, possibly because many other groups and organizations took on feeding efforts over the past year.Nevertheless, the church persisted, and Zaccari said she is thankful to participate in the Thanksgiving effort.“We want to make sure everyone has a Thanksgiving meal,” Zaccari said.
