Mountains of food donated for Thanksgiving

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

Local Catholics are finding creative ways to express thanks to God by giving. Students and parishioners are donating food for Thanksgiving meals and preparing community meals to share their abundance.

As always, there’s the bishop’s dinner on Thanksgiving, next Thursday. Bishop McManus hosts it, collaborating with Catholic Charities Worcester County, so people who are in need or alone have a Thanksgiving meal – at the noontime sit-down dinner with him at St. Paul Cathedral or delivered to their homes.
“As the need for meal assistance grows, we kindly request volunteers to assist us with distributing these meals,” Catholic Charities said in a press release. See ccworc.org/bishops-holiday-dinner to volunteer or donate or call 508-798-0191 x2240.

Also free is the 45th Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner in the hall of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer. Those who register by Nov. 20 can eat there or pick up a dinner on the holiday. Deliveries are made to local homebound people. For reservations call Michele at 508-885-3111 ext. 103. Anyone willing to help prepare and serve food, set up, clean up, or package and deliver meals, may also call. In addition, on Nov. 18, Mary, Queen of the Rosary is to distribute about 150 Thanksgiving baskets for the parish’s food pantry clients.

St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Milford is collaborating with nearby Trinity Episcopal Church and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation to provide a meal on Thanksgiving Day, paid for by the United Way. Registrations are to be made by Nov. 20 by contacting St. Mary’s at 508-473-2000 or Jocelyn at 508-308-2380 or sandyfingers@yahoo.com and saying the number of pick-up or delivered meals requested. At noon, people who did not register can go to Trinity Episcopal to pick up whatever meals are left.

Also on the holiday there is a fundraiser to feed those in need.

“Thanksgiving morning come run, walk or wobble in the Holden Turkey Trot and help support the Be Like Brit Foundation and local food pantries like St. John's Food for the Poor Program,” says an announcement in the bulletin of St. John Parish in Worcester. To sign up or sponsor, visit BeLikeBrit.org/TurkeyTrot.

St. John’s is to distribute Thanksgiving baskets from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Nov. 21 at its St. Francis Xavier Center. Reservations to receive a basket, due Nov. 17, are made by calling 508-756-7165. Basket donors are asked to email stjohnsworc@gmail.com and drop baskets off at the center or rectory before Nov. 21. Volunteers are asked to arrive by 10 a.m. that day.

St. Peter Parish in Northbridge is serving a Thanksgiving meal Nov. 18 in the church hall to pre-registered senior citizens.

“Help us show how much we love the seniors of our parish family,” says the Sunday bulletin. Volunteers will be donating cooked turkeys and pies and will
help serve.

The parish, along with the Northbridge Association of Churches, is also helping families in need with their own Thanksgiving dinner by giving them store gift cards.

In a different twist, students in grades 6-8 at Trinity Catholic Academy in Southbridge are scheduled to eat a “modest lunch” in recognition of the less fortunate on Nov. 16 at St. Mary’s rectory, said Angela Symock, principal. Father Peter P. Bui, associate pastor, was to lead prayer and talk about hunger issues for this Broth, Bread & Beyond gathering hosted by the student Faith in Action Team.

On Nov. 21, the school has a Thanksgiving prayer service hosted by pre-kindergartners, who do a performance and receive food other students donate for the parish food pantry.

St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville encouraged parishioners to take more than one tag with requests for donations for Thanksgiving baskets or to donate money through the parish website.

“The need this year … has nearly doubled from the number of baskets requested last year” by local families, said a parish bulletin announcement.

St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough also announced in its bulletin a “greater than ever” need, which it attributed to inflation and an increasing number of immigrants coming to town.

“It has been a long-standing tradition at St. Luke's to provide Thanksgiving dinner to families in need,” says the parish bulletin. “All of the ‘fixings’ are brought in by the children in our religious education classes.” About 135 families are each to get two large grocery bags of food and a $50 grocery store card, paid for by parishioners, that can be used to purchase a turkey.

“We’re always ready with additional gift cards,” for those who haven’t registered, said Maria Gasser, secretary.

St. Mary Parish in Jefferson asked religious education students to add their contributions to the “Thanksgiving for All” table to which parishioners have been donating.

“Let’s build a mountain of food,” suggested a parish bulletin announcement. “Donations will be added to the 260 baskets our parish family will be donating to the hungry.”

At St. Richard of Chichester Parish in Sterling, 45 Thanksgiving bags for the Mustard Seed soup kitchen in Worcester “were filled to the brim and picked up by our volunteers for delivery,” according to a parish bulletin announcement.

Father James B. Flynn, pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Southborough, said 300 gift cards were donated, and religious education students are bringing in food, in a Thanksgiving drive for Pernet Family Health Service in Worcester. In addition, youth ministry members are making food baskets for about six local families.

Students at St. Aloysius Catholic School in Gilbertville collected more than 250 items of Thanksgiving food for the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, according to Roberta McQuaid, the school’s finance manager and enrollment coordinator. She said the grades 6-8 homeroom collected the most items, earning a “no uniform” day.

Eighth-graders at St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School in Worcester handle the school’s Thanksgiving food and turkey drive, said Meg Kursonis, principal. They started collecting donations Nov. 13. On Nov. 20 they are to take everything to the food pantry at St. Peter Parish and fill baskets, to the delight of the retired people volunteering there.


Photo courtesy of St. Aloysius Catholic School
Students in grades 6-8 at St. Aloysius Catholic School in Gilbertville, whose homeroom collected the most Thanksgiving donations for the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, won a “no uniform day.” Here they stand behind the school’s contributions.