Lavelle church serves up free Thanksgiving turkey dinners

LAVELLE, Nov 22, 2008 (The News-Item - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WMT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Hundreds of people enjoyed a free Thanksgiving-style turkey dinner with all the fixings Saturday afternoon thanks to many generous people giving with the heart of the Christian spirit.

For three hours, the Lavelle Church of the Nazarene served the tasty hot meals to people in the regional community in order to provide an opportunity for those who live alone and may not have anyone to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with, who may not be able to cook a holiday meal or may not be able to afford such a meal.

Whatever the situation, the community meal also provided a chance for fellowship, an emotional bridge to others, and allowed the Lavelle church to give back to the community in a heartfelt way.

This is the fourth year the church has offered this community outreach, the first time in 2005 when 100 meals were prepared. The number of meals prepared for has grown over the years, with volunteers preparing enough food for 400 meals this year. While most meals were enjoyed in the church hall, some meals were takeouts, while some others were delivered to those who could not travel to the church.

The meal consisted of white and dark meat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, gravy, dinner roll, cranberry sauce, coleslaw, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverage.

The main chef organizing the food preparation was Frank Whalen of Stonington, retired from the U.S. Navy, where he served in the galley as a cook. Whalen has been involved with the church's Thanksgiving meal event since the beginning and was enthusiastic to lend his culinary expertise in cooking for large groups of people to this church ministry.

"We have enough food for 400 people. We have 16 turkeys, which were taken home by many women to roast at home. There is no way we could roast them all here," said Whalen, wearing a white apron and chef's hat that makes him look a bit like "Chef Boyardee."

"We're just so happy to do it. You're tired when it's over, but the next day when you think about it, you're overwhelmed on what you really can do," he said.

Whalen said the church has received lots of help in making sure enough food was available.

"Wegmans really helped us out. So did Wal-Mart, Rock 'n Block, and other private donations. Without the donations, it would be tough to do something like this," said Whalen.

Whalen was also quick to praise those who help prepare the food.

"I have a lot of good help. Most are people from the church, but we even had a man who's not a member volunteer offer to help," he said.

Whalen, who expects to hang up his apron and chef's hat soon, said the community meal will continue with younger people eager to help continue the church's Christian mission.

"Hopefully we have people who will take over because some of us are getting a little older and we need the help," said Whalen said.

One of the servers filling the plates was Beverly Mattson, a church member from Mount Carmel, who loved the idea of getting involved with the event.

"This is a year that people are looking for help," said Mattson. "My husband will be later to help. He picking up some people who are interested in having the meal. It's a blessing. What a wonderful feeling it is to watch people sit down to a meal. We had people coming through and their plate was full halfway through the line and when they realized there was more, they were overwhelmed."

Mattson added, "People are just so enthusiastic that it's available and it's free. We're not even asking for donations. This is food either provided the thrift food ministry or donations from vendors. The team was amazing getting everything together."

Mattson said the economic situation makes a ministry like the Thanksgiving dinner that much more important.

"It's really getting to be almost like a critical situation. That's another reason why our church is also looking to get involved in Angel Food Ministries. We'll be doing that next," she said.

Pastor Rick Newman, who spent the afternoon talking to diners and helping carry trays of food to tables, was very pleased that people were enjoying the church's hospitality.

"We've had a lot of cooperation here and help. People called up and asked if they could do something to help. We said, 'Sure, come along.' And everyone seems to be leaving in good spirits and very appreciated of what we trying to do," Pastor Newman said. "We thank the Lord for that. I guess it's fair to say we're most like Christ when we're giving, being compassionate and helping others. That's what we're trying to do here. I also thank the Lord for all the good people we have here working in our church and those who came to part of what we're doing here today."

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