MT VERNON, Ill (WSIL) -- As COVID-19 mitigation efforts increase, health departments are discouraging large gatherings for Thanksgiving, leaving community centers, churches and local organizations to find other ways to serve hot meals for their community.
Volunteers at Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon were busy Wednesday morning, prepping and planning, to keep a tradition of 24 years going strong.
Organizers say despite the pandemic, their church wanted to provide a little bit of "normalcy" with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, even if it was in a traditional setting.
"We talked about it. We prayed about it, and we assumed that it would happen, one way or another, this meal was going to happen," says organizer Steve Reynolds.
Dozens of volunteers took part. Heather Mitchell says it's something she looks forward to each year. "I like to spend my day off serving here, serving God, serving the people of my community."
More than 80 turkeys will help make up the roughly 2,500 meals the Church is giving away.
"It's a traditional Thanksgiving dinner; it's turkey, dressing, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, green beans, dinner rolls, pies, cobblers," says Reynolds, as volunteers were busy wrapping up many of those cobblers cooling down.
The dinner is free and open to anyone. The church will hand those meals out with a drive-through, keeping with social distancing and following mitigation guidelines.
"Whenever we have to do something different, we've got to figure out how to roll with the punches," says Mitchell, on not being able to seat their diners. "Do I think there's going to be as much interaction, no, but I think we'll doing an amazing job with what we can do."
Reynolds says the church regularly fills up with hundreds of people arriving from the surrounding communities and that interaction will be missed this year.
"This is our way of saying, 'Happy Thanksgiving, we still love you, and we'll be together next year,'" adds Reynolds.
Volunteers will also packaging up hundreds of those meals and deliver them to area shelters, shut-ins and first responders.
Volunteers are expected to arrive at the church around 4 in the morning Thursday to start cooking, boxing and preparing meals for the community.
The drive-through pick-up will start at 11 a.m. and continues until 1:30 p.m., or until they run out.
