MOUNT VERNON – For the last 20 years, Sarah Wood has sponsored a community Thanksgiving dinner in Mount Vernon in memory of her daughter who died in a house fire.
This year, amid a worsening COVID-19 pandemic, the Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner will be a lot different.
The event is normally held at the Memorial Building in Mount Vernon. A traditional sit-down meal was cancelled this year because of COVID-19. So Wood is teaming up with several other groups and organizations, including the Salvation Army and Interchurch Social Services, to provide drive-through meals on Wednesday, Nov. 25, from noon to 2 p.m. at Lakeholm Church of the Nazarene (located at 16001 Glen Road) and at The Salvation Army (located at 206 E. Ohio Ave.), both in Mount Vernon.
The groups expect to hand out 1,500 meals or more, Wood said. Vouchers, which are required for the meals, can be obtained from Wood, The Salvation Army and Interchurch Social Services (306 W. Gambier St., also in Mount Vernon).
“We need volunteers to help pass out the meals and we will need people to get everything packaged up, prepared and ready,” Wood told the Mount Vernon News. Meals will also be provided for participants in the Meals on Wheels program.
Although hosting the community dinner is more difficult this year because of COVID-19, the need is probably greater as well, Wood noted.
“There is so much confusion and disruption in everything,” she said.
Jerry Scott, a member of Lakeholm Church of the Nazarene, said his church's kitchen is well equipped for the task at hand.
“We happen to have a big commercial oven and two convection ovens,” he said. “We can crank out a lot of food quickly.”
There is always a need for meals at Thanksgiving, but perhaps this year the need will be greater because of COVID-19, Scott commented.
“It’s something that everybody has to work together on,” he said.
For more information, call Sarah Wood at 740-358-9224.
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