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Fairfield First United Methodist Church prepares for largest Thanksgiving meal yet
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – First United Methodist Church in Fairfield will host its 20th annual Thanksgiving Meal on Thursday, Nov. 28.
The meal will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and there is no charge for it. The church offers dine-in, carry-out and delivery. For more information, contact 641-472-4303 or 641-919-6046.
The number of meals the church serves has gone up since the COVID pandemic, and last year the church broke its record by serving 540 meals, more than the previous high of 467 in 2020.
“I’m just hoping I have enough,” said meal organizer Carrie Brownlee, who has been in charge of the Thanksgiving Day lunch for almost a decade. “This year, we’re planning for about 600 meals.”
Brownlee said she’s seeing an increase not just in the use of the church’s Thanksgiving Day meal but also its food bank.
“I think some of it is the economic times,” Brownlee said. “Inflation has been higher, it costs more to go to the grocery store, and it costs more to buy a lot of things compared to two or three years ago. If I can make sure people have food, that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Brownlee said the church wants to stress that the meal is free, and it doesn’t even put out a basket for free-will donations, though some patrons insist on giving the church something.
“Some people are moved to give a donation, but it’s not necessary,” she said.
The church is cooking 44 turkeys this year, and they were donated by Walmart and Fairfield HyVee. The stuffing is being done by the First Lutheran Church. Rolls are courtesy of First Christian Church, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donates money to buy the potatoes, gravy and green beans. The Knights of Columbus helps pay for and deliver the pies, which are coming from an Amish bakery in Kalona. Brownlee added that Logli’s orders the mashed potatoes and green beans through a wholesaler and sells them to the church at cost.
“Without these donations and the help, this would cost a couple thousand dollars easily,” Brownlee said. “We have close to 612 pounds of turkey in those 44 turkeys.”
Brownlee said the church gets a great turnout in volunteers, too.
“God seems to provide, but it never hurts to have extra help, so if anybody wants to come they can call me ahead of time or show up that day,” she said. “We’re not going to turn anybody away.”
Brownlee said the idea of a free Thanksgiving meal started as a way to serve people who were spending the holiday alone, or those who couldn’t travel home for it. She said associate pastor Dave Peterson and parishioner Dave Goehring were involved in those early years helping to get the event off the ground.
“If you’re a single person, who wants to cook turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans for one person?” Brownlee said. “This is a nice place where people can come for fellowship and not be by themselves on Thanksgiving.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
