Thanksgiving signals the start of the holiday season, but for many senior adults, it also can be a painful reminder of what they have lost — spouses, good health, mobility and independence.
Through both church and community outreach ministries, Alabama Baptists are dedicating themselves to easing the loneliness and need that many people feel during the holidays.
Many churches throughout the state have found creative ways to provide hot meals on Thanksgiving Day for area families.
Members of Victoria Baptist Church, Elba, in Coffee Baptist Association, make an effort each year to find needy families in their community and to provide the ingredients for a Thanksgiving dinner.
“We try to provide a way for them to have a home-cooked meal on that day,” said Mary Marler, wife of Victoria’s pastor Donnie Marler.
For the last several years, members of Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, in Franklin Baptist Association, have voluntarily dedicated part of their Thanksgiving Day to providing a holiday meal for those who might not have one otherwise.
According to Mountain View pastor Sammy Taylor, volunteers delivered at least 185 meals to area residents, including those living in senior housing and officers from local fire and police departments.
Taylor said the outreach involves the entire church, and he estimated that 75–100 church members participate in the event each year, with many families working together.
“Thanksgiving is really a family day, and many of those we deliver to are alone,” he said. “Their loneliness is broken by our visit, and they are so grateful and thankful that people have thought of them.”
Providing a hot meal on Thanksgiving Day for those who might not have one is also the idea behind a project of The Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, which has three locations in Jefferson and Blount counties.
Each Thanksgiving, the mission serves a meal at 5 p.m. to hundreds of people at its downtown Birmingham location.
When Executive Director Tony Cooper, a member of Gardendale’s First Baptist Church in North Jefferson Baptist Association, heard of a program in Mobile that delivered meals on Thanksgiving Day, he knew he wanted to implement a similar program in Birmingham for participants of Meals on Wheels.
“Since Meals on Wheels takes the holiday off, we got a list from them of people who would be at home by themselves,” he said. “We delivered a hot turkey and dressing meal to each of them.”
Cooper believes the 300 or so Meals on Wheels participants who received a meal last year benefited from both the meal and the personal contact on Thanksgiving Day, and plans to do the same this year.
“Since they are at home, that tells you they don’t have any family they are going to spend the holiday with,” he said. “For some, the volunteer may be the only smiling face they see on the holiday.”
The volunteers benefit as well, he said, because they feel better about their holiday meal knowing they have done something to brighten the holiday for other people.
Staff members at nursing homes and retirement facilities around the state also do their best to provide holiday cheer for residents at Thanksgiving.
Gayle Bearden, business director for Bibb Medical Center Nursing Home in Centreville, said that residents there enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but in the days leading up to the holiday, residents also enjoy special music, preaching and worship services.
Cindy Welch, activities director at Florala Health and Rehabilitation and a member of First Baptist Church, Florala, in Covington Baptist Association, said residents there are blessed to have many area churches who want to minister to them. “Many of our residents come from a really strong spiritual background,” she said. “They feel so strong in their faith, and they need that [time for worship] in their lives.”
Opportunities for ministry are everywhere, and families can incorporate some elements of ministry into their family Thanksgiving traditions, said Sonya Tucker, associate in the office of discipleship and family ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
Tucker suggested several ways families can reach out to those in their churches and communities who might be alone during the holidays.
- Make and give out handmade Bible verse cards or bookmarks, using verses that celebrate giving thanks, such as 1 Thessalonians 1:2–3 or 5:18.
- Invite senior adults without local family members to share a Thanksgiving meal with your family.
- Take time to visit a senior adult, and ask him or her to share a favorite Thanksgiving story from childhood with you and your children.
- Prepare a fall floral arrangement using natural elements from your yard and the grocery store — leaves, berries, pinecones, nuts and/or fruits — and deliver the arrangement when you can visit for a few minutes.
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