Thanksgiving dinner planned at Methodist church

For the seventh year, a community Thanksgiving dinner will be served at First United Methodist Church from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24.

Fairfield Hy-Vee Food and Drug Store is donating the turkeys, First Lutheran Church members will bring assorted dressings, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is supplying dinner rolls and the Knights of Columbus is responsible for pies.

Volunteers from many sectors of the community pitch in to cook turkeys, serve food and make home deliveries on Thanksgiving Day.

?This is open to everyone, there?s no cost,? said Dave Goehring, one of the dinner?s organizers and supporters. ?It doesn?t matter if you?re rich or poor, bring a family or come alone. We don?t take a free will offering. It?s truly our gift to the community.?

Besides turkey, dressing, rolls and pies, the menu includes mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and green beans provided by numerous individuals.

Also on the ?menu? ? background piano music provided by high school students.

?Our community is blessed with talented and very giving people,? said Goehring. ?We?ve had someone contributing music each year.?

Volunteers usually cook about 15 turkeys.

?We?ve served more than a couple hundred dinners each year,? he said. ?That includes home deliveries.?

Community dinner volunteers have taken it upon themselves to deliver a Thanksgiving meal to homebound residents who normally receive meals delivered by the Fairfield Senior Citizen Center meal site program.

?Thanksgiving is a holiday, so the meal site is closed and there?s no home deliveries that day,? said Goehring. ?There?s usually about 70 or so home deliveries.?

Residents not on the meal site register also can call the First United Methodist Church office at 472-4303 by Tuesday to ask for a home delivery meal on Thanksgiving. The church office will be closed Nov. 23-25. Take-outs also will be available.

Goehring said the Thanksgiving community dinner started because of a question from youth group members seven years ago.

?That summer, I chaperoned a youth mission trip,? he said. ?On our drive home, the kids asked if there wasn?t something they could work on closer to home; why did they have to travel to serve others? The community dinner started that Thanksgiving.

?Many people have made helping out at the dinner a part of their Thanksgiving Day. One family comes each year to help with home deliveries. The parents live here, but the two kids travel, one from Des Moines, and one from Cedar Rapids. We have a couple three-generations? families helping each year, and each year we get new people too.?

Goehring said there are no set shifts or sign-ups; volunteers show up and work any amount of time they want to give.

?We do have several teams helping in shifts, but it?s not set-up, it just happens,? he said. ?Last year, there was a man in town just for the day. He heard about the dinner and came over and worked a couple hours with us. Many of our returning volunteers discover satisfaction in giving to others. Some have their eyes open to conditions in the community they were not aware of.?