Around 15 years ago, three people began cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless and others who needed a hot meal.
Those first couple years, they served around 20-30 guests at Wesley United Methodist Church at 503 N. High St. in Morgantown, said Karen King, the event coordinator. The Community Thanksgiving Dinner has continued to grow in size since then, serving around 900 meals last year.
This year, King said they are hoping to serve Thanksgiving dinner to around 1,200 people, because they will once again be offering a dine-in option for the first time since the pandemic.
“It’s amazing to get back to what we love to do. This is such a vital ministry for the community and it’s grown so much,” King said. “If we could do 900 last year just with takeout and delivery, we could certainly do at least 1,200 with dine-in.”
The times you can show up will depend on how you are getting your food.
King said they will start the day by making deliveries to homebound community members and first responders from 10 a.m-noon. If you need a take-out meal they can be picked up from noon-1 p.m.
Then from 1-4 p.m. dine-in meals will be served at the church — making the event truly a community affair once again.
Anyone is able to come enjoy the meal if they wish, King stressed – this dinner is not just for those in need.
“When we started we had two goals – not to just make it a ministry just for people at Wesley Church, we wanted it to be a community project, a community ministry,” King said. “We also didn’t want to be a financial burden to the church, so we raise all the money we need.
“This is for everybody. It is not just for the homeless,” King said. “We have had grandparents whose families have come in so they brought their families down to eat. One year we had a lady who had a broken arm and couldn’t cook – so we cooked for her.
“We’ve had a variety of ways that we have served the public,” she said.
The menu this year will be a traditional meal complete with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, gravy, corn, beans, bread and desserts.
“It is a joy – I mean an absolute joy to do this,” King said. “I say it all the time that Thanksgiving is the one holiday that has certain smells and certain foods and it brings back all those memories. So when people walk in through that gym door and they want to sit – I want them to feel welcome.”
King said they are also going the extra mile to make children feel at home by having a kids’ corner that will have coloring, a volunteer reading to the kids and a T.V. to play a movie.
Any leftovers after the meal will go to the Community Kitchen.
The event relies on the kindness of local sponsors and donations from the community to provide the meals for free. According to King, Chili’s Grill and Bar is one of their biggest sponsors. They provide the paper products needed and will provide over 200 pounds of mashed potatoes – nearly half of the amount of potatoes they are expected to go through.
United Bank and, of course, Wesley United Methodist are also big sponsors of the annual meal.
King said in addition to financial donations – which they can always accept – the group is still in need of volunteers to help serve on Thanksgiving Day starting at 8 a.m.
“We also need pies,” King said, demonstrating another way the community can offer their support.
“It’s not just those that are serving – those that are working there,” she said, “It’s those who want to give another way.”
If you are in need of a take-out meal or delivery, King said to please call ahead to the church before Wednesday. Those dining in don’t need to make a reservation, but if you are able to call ahead it helps, so they know how much food to make.
If you would like to register to receive a take out meal, sign up to donate or sign up to volunteer you can do so by calling the church at 304-292-9485 or emailing them at wesleymorgantown@gmail.com.
“I cannot tell you what a joy this is – I just can’t. I’ve worked on a lot of projects all my life and this is my very favorite because it brings out the best in us,” King said. “I think that we need to be really grateful for all that we have and we need to make sure that nobody goes hungry if we can help it.”
