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 Thanksgiving dinner was a bit nicer for several dozen Spring-Ford area residents this year.
For the first time, Project Outreach hosted a Community Thanksgiving Dinner. The plan, according to Project Outreach director Meda Maron, is for the event to become an annual affair.
“The purpose was that nobody would be alone on Thanksgiving,” she said. The free dinner was open to anyone who wanted to participate, not just Project Outreach clients, she said. “There’s a lot of elderly people that live in the area,” she said, “a lot of older people that are alone, families that are alone, even homeless in our area.”
The dinner was served at noon on Thanksgiving in Spring City United Methodist Church. The feast of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and roll was served buffet style. The church fellowship hall was filled with round and rectangular tables set for six to eight people, so no one would have to eat alone.
Candles and flowers decorated the tables, along with candy favors at each place setting. The afternoon began with Pastor Kerry Bart of Spring City United Methodist at the piano, leading the singing of “Amazing Grace.” After he returned thanks to God for the meal, the diners lined up to fill their plates with the food.
Linda Bednarczyk commented that the food was very good. “We’re by ourselves, so we decided to come out,” she said. All ages were represented among the diners, from preschool to senior citizens.
Helping to serve the food were two families from Crossroads Presbyterian Church, Limerick. Paul Johnson, 13, said, “It makes you feel good after it’s all done,” although he admitted to being hungry while waiting for the dinner to begin.
Cynthia Hornak, Royersford, brought her teenage son and daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend to help serve. “I just feel that we have everything we need … so we just decided to give back this year.”
Project Outreach is supported by 26 area churches. It offers weekly food pantries to those in need, as well as other services. Participating in the Thanksgiving dinner were Spring City United Methodist, Crossroads Presbyterian, Zion Lutheran, Royersford United Methodist, Trinity Evangelical Congregational, Royersford Baptist, Grace Lutheran and others who support Project Outreach.
The participating churches provided transportation for those who could not otherwise get to the meal, as well as helping with the cooking, cleaning, serving and hostessing. Also assisting with providing and preparing the food were Giant Food Store, Bill Baird Catering and Sarah Greis.
The idea for the Thanksgiving dinner came about last year, when Grace Lutheran Church was helping with the weekly pantry just before Thanksgiving. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Paul Neff, stopped in Maron’s office and said he thought Project Outreach should sponsor a community Thanksgiving dinner.
Planners began meeting in the spring, Maron explained, “and here we are.” Bart noted that the Spring City Methodist location was chosen because the church has a certified kitchen for the food preparation and a zero barrier entry, making it wheelchair accessible, in addition to being centrally located.
According to Maron, 65 people had preregistered for the dinner, including about a dozen shut-ins, to whom the meal was delivered. Although she indicated they would have welcomed more, she felt the response was “pretty good” for a first event.
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