By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Six-hundred meals of piping hot turkey, mounds of mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie served up a Thanksgiving tradition almost cut short by COVID.
Feeding hundreds of people is more complicated this year at the Bowling Green community center, with precautions in place due to COVID-19.
But times have also been tougher on families than usual this year – and the cost of putting a Thanksgiving feast on the table is more than many can afford right now.
So as organizers of Christ Church’s annual community Thanksgiving dinner debated whether or not to cook up turkey and all the trimmings, they came to the conclusion that more people probably needed a hearty Thanksgiving dinner this year than in the past.
“We didn’t want to lose the momentum of doing it,” said Renee Baker, who organizes the cooking with her husband Chris. “And we thought, of all the years, there is more need this year.”
So the church volunteers came through as always – donating food, sweating in the community center kitchen, and this year, delivering meals to cars in the rain. And the community center was onboard with continuing the tradition, with some modifications.
“We knew there would be a need,” Chris Baker said Tuesday afternoon as he stirred a giant pot of stuffing. “We knew it would be different, and we were good with that.”
Church members donated 20 turkeys, 80 pumpkin pies, and 50 dozen dinner rolls. They worked in the kitchen, they bagged up orders in an assembly line, then rushed them outside.
“As usual, the church came through,” Chris Baker said, as someone shouted that he needed to start another pot of potatoes. “We have a loving congregation.”
Normally, the community Thanksgiving serves up meals in the community center gym. But this year, all the food had to be packaged, then taken to cars to be eaten at homes.
And normally, the dinner serves between 300 and 400 meals. But out of concern that more people need help this year, the church prepared to serve 600 on Tuesday.
“Once we’re out, we’re out,” Baker said as she boxed up containers of steaming turkey.
The meals came with helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, corn, rolls and of course, pumpkin pie.
Outside, the cars were lined up two abreast, stretching from the kitchen area door out to Newton Road.
Behind the wheel of one car was Firma Koester, of Bowling Green, her son, Doug, and two granddaughters. Like many, Koester needed a little help providing a traditional Thanksgiving meal for her family.
“We went down to the Bowling Green Christian Food Pantry, and they told us about this,” Koester said.
Normally, her family has a huge gathering on Thanksgiving – with 35 or so gathering around for turkey and the trimmings.
This year, the table will be set for five.
“Our family isn’t having a regular Thanksgiving because of COVID,” Koester said.
“But we’re making the best of it,” her son said.
Koester is hoping for a better year in 2021.
“I think the most important thing is getting together with people,” she said. “It means a lot to people.”
In another car were Gary and Cindy Cron, of Portage. They are regulars at the community Thanksgiving dinner, bringing their grandchildren to join them each year.
At first the couple was concerned when they didn’t hear about the drive-thru meal in place of the one normally held in the community center gym. They weren’t sure how to handle Thanksgiving dinner this year. “We’d have stayed home and eaten something,” Gary Cron said.
But instead, the couple picked up six dinners on Tuesday – for themselves and their grandchildren.
Becky Flores, of Northwood, used to attend the annual community meals when she lived in Bowling Green. When she heard this year that it was drive-thru, she picked up meals for eight family members.
“It’s nice to be able to not cook for a day,” Flores said with a smile.
