Usually, the visits take around five minutes.
You stop at the house, introduce yourself, tell why you are there and hand over a warm Thanksgiving meal in an act of kindness.
A stop at the home of Willie Lou Garner in Southside Columbus became a 25-minute stay. Garner and her daughter, Valerie, who is disabled, do not get out much. So the visit was welcome.
“I appreciate all of this,” Garner said. “I was surprised.”
“You aren’t used to anyone coming around and doing stuff like that anymore,” she added.
Emma Davis also appreciated the visit.
Volunteers showed up at her door with turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, candy yams and corn.
She asked for something else: Prayer.
Her uncle, Allen Davis, she said, was sick.
Her voice offered hints of sadness, helplessness.
The three men who delivered her meal — strangers to her — bowed their heads and prayed with her.
Volunteers made the rounds throughout Columbus, delivering meals and offering a smile and conversation.
Community members also came to them — showing up at Stokes-Beard Elementary School where meals were prepared as part of the Concerned Citizens of Ward 1 and Columbus Police Department Thanksgiving meal program.
“We had a lady come in and needed an extra 100 plates,” CPD Community Relations Officer Rhonda Sanders said. “She didn’t know she was supposed to turn the names in, and we even had enough food to fix her some stuff. And we had two people come in off the street, and we gave a meal to them, so the mission was served.”
More than 1,000 Thanksgiving meals made their way from the school kitchen to the front doors of community members.
And the message was the same: The plates were more than food; they were an offering of love.
“We just wanted to stop by and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and tell you that we love you,” Henry Williams said to Annie Bell, as he presented her a warm plate.
Williams, who was volunteering with the program for the first time, is the Kingdom Vision International Church outreach director.
The program began in 1994. Each year, it takes weeks of preparation — from raising money and collecting donations to cooking and preparing the meals.
On Thanksgiving morning, volunteers started early to put on the finishing touches on the food.
Exactly 200 volunteers participated in this year’s event; last year, around 100 participated. Annie Barry, one of the founders of the program, said this outreach shows people in the are care enough about others to devote much of their Thanksgiving holiday to help those in need.
“Look around. We’ve got young, old, black, white,” she said. “It’s a unified effort.”
“It isn’t just a meal you’re delivering,” Sanders told the volunteers before they set out on their routs. “You might change somebody’s life.”
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