Greene County Thanksgiving Outreach

2024 - Plenty of Help!

We made some changes last year.

We changed the menu, switching from ham to turkey and dressing with gravy.  We also changed  from mashed potatoes to sweet potato casserole.  That meant we had to take corn off the menu to have a place on the plate for the casserole. We had the usual green beans, roll, and dessert.

The feedback was positive for the sweet potato casserole, so we'll be doing that again in 2025.  That means an extra expense because we buy those frozen and just rely on volunteers to heat them up.

We increased our meal limit from 2000 to 2500.  We served about 2300 with our own deliveries, which included partnering with CANUP and U-Turn for Christ who delivered about 130-140 meals.

We also had the opportunity to give all our leftovers to the people working with the Cowboy Church to feed flood victims in North Carolina, which provided about 300 meals for them. 

2023 - Short on Volunteers

Everything worked out well in 2022.  We met our 2000 meal limit and were able to go over about 40-50.  We added corn back to the menu.  We needed more volunteers on that morning.

2022 - Meals Return

After two years of delivering food boxes, we are returning to delivering individual meals once again on Thanksgiving morning.  Since we're not sure how many of our former helpers will be returning, we are starting out slow.  We are limiting our deliveries to the first 2000 requests; we are not doing a dining room or having any pick-ups or carry outs; we are not having canned drinks or serving corn.

2020-2021 Summary

COVID took a toll on our operation and we had to adjust.  Instead of preparing and serving meals we partnered with 2nd Harvest and delivered food boxes the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

2017-2019 Summary

Our numbers seem to have leveled off at between 3500-3600 meals served.  Once again our number was increased by our giving the leftovers to the Greene County Workhouse, where they were able to make at least one meal for all the inmates out of them.  We had plenty of food, but could have used some more workers.   

2016 Summary

Our numbers were down slightly in 2016, with a final count of 3520 meals served.  Once again our number was increased by our giving the leftovers to the Greene County Workhouse, where they were able to make at least one meal for all the inmates out of them.  Even so, we ran short of green beans and mashed potatoes and didn't have as many helpers as usual.  This seems to be a pattern.  One year we'll have plenty of help and donations and then the next year people will remember that we seemed to have more than enough of food and volunteers and cut back a little and when they see that we ran short they'll increase both the next year, so we should have plenty of donations and volunteers in 2017 and then maybe run a little short again in 2018.

2015 Summary

We served a record number of people, serving or delivering around 3619 meals.  This number was increased by our giving the leftovers to the Greene County Workhouse, where they were able to make at least one meal for all the inmates out of them.  If everyone will cook and donate as generously in 2016 as they did in 2015, then we should be able to serve 3700 people with those same amounts.

2014 Summary

All the parking problems from 2013 were fixed and the delivery system flowed smoothly and quickly.   We delivered 2732 meals, had 338 carry out plates and had 45 people and workers dine in for a total of 3115 meals, give or take a few.  We had plenty of everything thanks to the generosity of the many cooks who donated their time and effort and to the sharing of leftovers from the Northern Greene County Churches United in Love Thanksgiving Meal on Wednesday.  We were able to give the Soup Kitchen 126 lbs. of turkey, 15 pans of dressing, 20 pans of mashed potatoes, 30 pans of corn and 25 pans of green beans for their weekly meals. 

2013 Summary

Despite a slight problem with parking that delayed some delivery drivers for an hour and then running out of side dishes and having to run to the store twice, everything went fairly smoothly, especially considering the record number of meals that were delivered.  There were 2614 meals sent out with drivers covering 61 routes all over Greene County, with at least another 137 meals carried out and 65 people visiting the dining room.

You are Invited to Join in the Fun

and Receive a Blessing

We could have kept all this fun and blessing to ourselves, but we're glad to share with you both as individuals and as a church or other organization to join in the fun of the event and to receive a blessing.  See below to determine the level of blessing you'd like to receive.

To receive just a little blessing: