The community at large is welcome to a Thanksgiving dinner at First Presbyterian Church. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. BESIDES FILLING the belly, the meals provide fellowship, said volunteer Tom Waters.
The meal is an extension of the church’s Sunday Soups, an effort in its beginning stages to provide food and fellowship each Sunday evening from 5 to 7 o’clock.
Initial response to the Sunday Soups has been heartening, organizer Elyssa Jackson said. An average of 100 meals has been served over the first four Sundays.
“A core group has been showing up every Sunday,” Jackson said, in addition to a few newcomers.
A traditional Thanksgiving meal will be served Thursday. Organizers are preparing for about 120.
“People should come just for the companionship,” he said.
Waters is director of Iola’s food pantry at the corner of Washington and Broadway as well as pastor of a Baptist church in Bronson.
“I’ve tried to retire, but always am called back into action,” he said of his 48 years in ministry. Waters has been with the food pantry for five months, replacing Phil Honeycutt.
Waters’ wife, Jeri, also volunteers at the pantry, as well as her sister-in-law, Jackie Misenhelter.
Requests at the food pantry have doubled compared to last year, the Rev. Waters said.
For October, the food pantry filled 318 requests for food. September’s was 400. It is managed by the Iola Area Ministerial Association.
“We are considered an emergency food pantry,” Waters said. Patrons must show proof they live on limited incomes. Typically, an individual can receive food from the pantry only every three months.
“There’s a genuine need for the food pantry and the Sunday Soups program,” he said. “When you understand these peoples’ situations you see they often have no control over events in their lives that sometimes land them in times of crisis.
“For many, it’s hard for them to accept help. They are used to giving, not receiving.”
The pantry helps primarily local citizens.
“Very rarely does a transient come by,” he said, adding if they do, they are given “just enough food to get them on down the road.”
The pantry’s cupboards currently are well-stocked, Jeri Waters said.
“The community has been exceptional in its response to our needs,” she said. “Just this morning half a dozen individuals brought by food.”
Local outreach helps feed the community
