In the last six years, Donna Williams has learned a great deal about how to cook and serve a holiday meal for a crowd. I’m not talking about the kind of crowd that shows up when you invite all of your relatives and several friends to the house for Thanksgiving. I mean a meal for more than 500 people. Maybe even 600.
That’s what Donna and her team of volunteers will attempt for the Breaking Bread Dinner Church. Around 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, they will start serving turkey dinners in to-go boxes at the Aaron McNeil House.
Donna, the pastor at Christian Heights United Methodist Church, would be the first to tell you that the volunteers and the donors who fuel this outreach program are crucial to the mission.
The program has grown almost 10-fold since Donna established Breaking Bread Dinner Church in the fall of 2019 with a goal to provide supper every Thursday afternoon to anyone needing a meal. Early on she served a few dozen people a week. Today, she sees around 400 people every Thursday — and more for special meals at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many of them are living on the streets of Hopkinsville or in apartments or rental houses with few resources.
To ensure Donna’s crew is able to feed everyone seeking a meal this Thanksgiving, the volunteer cooks and servers need donations of food, water and money.
Donna estimates she’ll go through 25 turkeys. Anyone wanting to donate meat can arrange this by contacting Donna at 773-848-5113. The turkeys need to be thawed out by the Monday before Thanksgiving so Donna can get them to Mindy Hargrove, who owns the BBQ Shack and will roast all of the birds for Dinner Church.
In addition, Donna is seeking donations of cupcakes (the easiest dessert to serve in a to-go box) and bottled water. Vegetables and side dishes are taken care of.
- SUBSCRIBE: Sign up for our newsletters
Individuals, church groups and businesses that want to make a monetary donation to help with ongoing needs can mail checks to Breaking Bread Dinner Church, 3205 Princeton Road, Hopkinsville, KY 42240.
Helpers on Thanksgiving Day are also needed “because we have to pull the meat from all of those turkeys,” said Donna.
A similar plan is being made for a Christmas meal, with ham as the main course.
It’s unclear how the potential loss of SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, benefits this month will affect Breaking Bread Dinner Church. Nearly 13% of Christian County’s 25,676 households receive SNAP benefits, and several nonprofits and businesses announced this week they are preparing to provide meals and groceries. The Breaking Bread Dinner Church will be among those looking to serve.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
