Businesses, volunteers provide holiday meals all across the county

By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

November 27, 2008 11:12 pm

— ORWELL — Simon Teresko, 91, started his Thanksgiving dinner with a slice of pumpkin pie.
“I didn’t have much breakfast, that’s why I’m whipping up my appetite,” said Teresko, a Trumbull County resident who slipped across the county line to enjoy dinner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Orwell.
The dinner was sponsored by the Grand Valley Interfaith Services, a group of 10 churches that work together at Thanksgiving and Christmas to provide a free community meal. Helen Orgovan, who coordinated the event, expected 160 to 175 persons for dinner.
“That includes the take-out dinners,” Orgovan said, referring to meals delivered to shut-ins. “But if they are healthy enough to come out, we encourage them to do that so they can socialize.”
Planning for the meal began weeks ago as each participating congregation committed to supply some aspect of the meal. Most of the preparation was done earlier in the week, so the volunteers who prepare, deliver and serve the meal would have time for meals with their families.
Orgovan said Interfaith started the dinner with the idea of providing indigent people with a good meal, but it has evolved into much more.
“It’s people with no place to go, or whose family is too small to fix a Thanksgiving Day turkey for,” she said.
Floyd Duhl of Rome brought his wife, two sons and a daughter-in-law to the meal. “That way we don’t have to fix dinner at the house,” he said as they waited for the serving line to open. “It’s easier to come here.”
Duhl said he planned to stay at the fellowship hall and talk to other diners until it closed, then “go home and watch television.”
Teresko, who lost his wife recently, said he planned to go home, do some laundry and wait for one of his children to call. Orgovan said she’d have dinner with her daughter at the church, but their family Thanksgiving meal would have to wait until Saturday. Giving to those in need takes precedence.
“My family just knows that we don’t celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving on those days,” she said.
The Rev. John and Mae Salters celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and Thanksgiving Day with a couple of hundred guests at G.O. Ministries on Station Avenue, the ministry that the Salters founded. The meal there was nothing short of a feast: three kinds of turkey — fried, roasted and Spanish — plus macaroni and cheese, all kinds of vegetables, appetizers and desserts.
The meal has become a tradition for G.O. Ministries, but Mae says it almost didn’t come off this year. Her mother, Elnora Moore, had always helped prepare the turkeys. Elnora passed away last week, and Mae struggled with putting together the meal under a burden of grief.
Volunteers from nearly two dozen congregations helped her pull off the mammoth task, which included packing and delivering about 200 meals to seniors and disabled persons in the community. Randy Vencill, a member of the Pentecostal Church of God, provided taxi service for people who didn’t have transportation to the meal.
“It’s the Christian thing to do,” he said, explaining why he gave up a portion of the holiday to help others.
For more than 30 years, members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on South Main in Ashtabula have done the Christian thing and reached out to the city’s indigent and lonely persons on Thanksgiving Day. Diane Podgorny has helped coordinate this outreach for many of those years. She says the number of home-delivered meals was down this year, but they still expected to feed more than 200 persons during the two-hour period.
A first-time visitor to the meal said he’s all alone and didn’t know what he would have done for Thanksgiving if St. Peters had not provided the meal. He said it had “been a while” since he’d enjoyed a hot meal like the one placed before him.
Two nascent ventures in the city tried to build attendance by reaching into neighborhoods not served by the other outreaches. At Peoples Missionary Baptist Church, Florence Jones and her daughter Darla Jones, served several dozen free meals to “anybody who’s lonely, homeless, elderly or just doesn’t want to be alone on the holiday.”
Jones said this was the second year for the meal, which is sponsored by the congregation. It also was the second Thanksgiving Day meal Jones prepared this holiday.
“I cooked my meal at home last night,” she said, adding that her family was probably eating it even as she waited for guests to arrive at the church.
“I told my husband ‘Make sure you save some for me,’” Jones said.
Dolly Jones, owner of Doxie Deli in Ashtabula Harbor, did not have to worry about having something left over to nibble on for the next day — or weeks, for that matter. She roasted 160 pounds of chicken for her first attempt at a free holiday meal.
Food for the feast was donated by area vendors and the entire event came together in a matter of four days. Jones said although times are hard on Bridge Street, the other merchants were extremely generous in donating to the cause. Several stopped in to assist her with the meal, which she saw as a way of giving back to a community that gives them a livelihood.
“It’s good to do something for somebody else,” she said.
The spirit of giving back also was expressed at Crazy Dave’s Sugar Bowl Restaurant in Conneaut, where owner Dave Jones recruited dozens of family members, employees and friends to help prepare and serve a free meal in the tradition of the late Roy Stewart. The late restaurateur would always welcome the community to his establishment, Roy’s Restaurant, on Thanksgiving Day.
With an hour left to serve, Jones estimated they had served 200 meals, either in the Mill Street restaurant or through carry-outs. While Jones did the cooking and coordination, the provisions came from the community. Jones said vendors and individuals alike were extremely generous in donating food, including 20 turkeys, for the traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner.
The meal, which Jones says would cost about $7 as a regular restaurant item, was free, but donations were accepted. Jones plans to give the donations to Conneaut’s Right Track program.
Dinners were served from a buffet line manned by some of the jolliest volunteers in the county.
“We keep it lively in here,” said Tim Buchholz, who’s related to Jones. “The first thing we do is smile. As long as we can put a smile on their face, we’re happy. We’re having a good old time. When you are giving your time and services, you can’t help but have a good time.”
Volunteers from Conneaut Fire Station Four and the Port Conneaut Credit Union assisted on the serving line.
“I think we all did this for the same reason, to make sure someone has a good Thanksgiving,” said Jim Furman, Port Conneaut manager.
“It makes it easy once you realize when all is said and done that you can look at your life and see just how blessed you are,” added Buchholz.

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