‘It helps a lot’

MT. PLEASANT - To Sharon Corron, a Mt. Pleasant resident, the Fellowship Cup's annual Christmas meal distribution 'means the world” to her, especially in a year with so many unexpected hardships.

'I thank God for these people,” she said as she carried a box of food to her car.

Corron was one of more than 100 families the Henry County nonprofit served on Saturday with its annual holiday meal. Households were given time slots to come and pick up the free meal, which included a turkey or ham and sides including vegetables and stuffing.

Fellowship Cup Executive Director Ken Brown, said at the beginning of the day that he anticipated serving at least 130 families.

'We don't know how many we'll get. It might be more with everything going on,” he said.

Brown added the nonprofit had changed several of its usual procedures to enhance mitigation tactics including lowering the number of volunteers, extending the distribution by an hour, requiring masks, doing temperature checks at the door and giving clients a designated time to show up.

'We're doing things a little differently to keep people safe,” he said.

Volunteers Jean Reschly and Marilyn Carden-Crill, who are both usually involved with the Fellowship Cup through the Quarter Maybe More Store, were excited to lend a helping hand to the distribution.

'People are buying gifts and things for their family so they don't have a lot of extra money to spend on food. That's kind of why I help at Christmastime more than any other time,” Reschly said.

Carden-Crill said the 'great part” of helping with the food distribution is 'being able to brighten somebody's day.”

The former teacher, who has been retired since 1999, added being able to see former students is another aspect of the day she enjoys.

'Kind of a secondary thing for me is I have reconnected with some students that I knew a long time ago,” Carden-Crill said.

One former student who came through and chatted with Carden-Crill on Saturday was 55-year-old Bobbi Coughlin from Salem.

'Ms. C was my teacher way back when. She was always great,” Coughlin said.

The Salem resident added receiving the Christmas meal 'helps a lot.”

'Especially with the pandemic going on, money is kind of hard now,” Coughlin said.

For many, the meal was a little bit of hope in a difficult time.

Megan Reyes, who picked up meals with her mother Laura DeSpain, said she had recently lost her job due to COVID-19-related reasons.

'It helps a lot. There's a lot of families that don't have a job right now. I lost mine due to COVID,” she said.

Although the pair are looking forward to the holidays, Reyes said the family would not be gathering in light of health and safety guidelines related to the pandemic.

'We're going to be lonely at home because we're not doing family get-togethers this year,” she added.

Nathan Wyse, who is expecting a baby with his wife in the next month, said assistance from the Fellowship Cup has 'helped [them] a lot” this year.

'At the moment, we haven't got our own place, we've been living with her dad. He works nights. It's easier on us to have that we can make ourselves instead of all the food that he's paid for,” Wyse said.

Like Reyes, Wyse's employment was affected by the pandemic as well.

'I recently just lost my job to COVID. I'm looking for one right now,” he said.

Wyse added the Christmas meal is especially nice because his family 'doesn't really get out much.”