Gratitude freely flows from Florence Boyd’s voice when she considers the volunteers at the recently re-opened America and Roby Anderson Community Center. They will be bring her and her disabled, adult son whom she cares for home-cooked Thanksgiving meals on Nov. 21, the Saturday before the holiday.
The kindness is a huge help for the 84-year-old Boyd, who struggles many days to stand long enough to cook a full meal.
“This means a lot,” Boyd said. “It really does. And I think all the people getting dinners should be very thankful.”
Anderson Center organizers estimate they could deliver 350 meals or more that day — traditionally a time that the center that has celebrated with an in-person, pre-holiday meal for a few hundred people gathered at its facility at 421 McClure Road in Columbus. Those meal volunteers and those at two local churches also will scrap all in-person dining in favor of turkey-and-trimming to go via masked and gloved delivery personnel.
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The delivered meals are a way amid the COVID-19 pandemic to still serve those needing a meal for whatever reason — no relatives nearby, not able to prepare a traditional feast, struggling because of job loss or whatever else.
The churches, First Christian and Columbus Baptist, working alongside others, will deliver their meals on Thanksgiving Day. Most organizers expect their total meal reservations to top last year’s 1,753 served, including dine-in and delivery, among the three entities.
Paul Henderson, coordinator among a team of people for Columbus Baptist’s Feed the Flock effort, the city’s largest, said he expects to top last year’s record 965 meals served by the small church.
“The Feed the Flock team is always up to the challenge,” Henderson said.
But all volunteers pass any compliments to another for their work.
“The Lord gets all the credit,” said Pastor Charles Kennedy.
“Always putting the Lord first — where he belongs,” Henderson said.
In the past, volunteer drivers with the dinners have delivered meals to areas well beyond Columbus, including Petersville, Taylorsville, Hope, Ogilville, Azalia and elsewhere, according to organizers. And, when food was left over, people such as Kennedy have delivered a few meals to liquor store workers and others on the holiday — all to spread God’s love.
“We are currently prepared to serve as many meals as we have in the past or more,” said Diane Doup, community outreach coordinator for the nonprofit Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center. Community support to cover food costs already has been strong, she said. “We just felt like it wouldn’t be responsible to try to have folks dine in when we could not ensure social distancing and all the safety measures that would need to be in place.”
Organizers at Columbus Baptist and the Anderson Center both say they still are accepting donated food for the meals.
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- Nov. 21: America and Roby Anderson Community Center deliveries: 812-799-0910 or 812-343-0867. Deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 17. Six Meals maximum.
- Nov. 26: First Christian Church with the help of Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center. 812-379-4491. Deadline is 4 p.m. Nov. 23. Six meals maximum.
- Nov. 26: Columbus Baptist Church. 812-371-1400 or 812-314-9767 or 812-371-3728. Deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 23. One meal per family member.
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