‘I couldn’t make it without this help.’ Parrish church saves Thanksgiving for hundreds

The first car arrived at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, even though the drive-thru food bank at Parrish United Methodist Church wouldn’t start letting cars in until 8 a.m.

“Susan,” who declined to give her last name due to a sensitive nature in her life, arrived at about 3:30 a.m. to ensure she received one of the 500 turkeys from church’s Thanksgiving food bank giveaway. She was third in line.

She was right to get there early. By the time the food bank opened, nearly 300 cars were already in line.

Susan should be at a point in her life where she can start taking it easy after raising several children and working multiple jobs over her lifetime. But a family emergency has put two young boys in her care, “and I couldn’t make it without this help,” she said.

Everyone had their own story on why they needed help this year, although they all shared a common thread: they are in a time of need. From one woman escaping an abusive husband to another who is suffering financially from a pandemic-related job loss, they needed help and the church wasn’t going to let them down.

Church member and food pantry organizer Jim Rackey said the church has had the pantry for 15 years. The need for help exploded when the coronavirus pandemic hit. It subsided as the economy got a little better after pandemic-related restrictions were eased, but is on the rise once again.

“We went from doing 30 to 50 families before COVID and now we’re doing up to 500 families every two weeks,” Rackey said, who moved the pantry outdoors for safety reasons.

Each family received a large turkey with all the fixings, assorted meats, milk, eggs, pasta, rice, snacks and more.

The local YMCA was on hand to give out personal protection gear and there were about 100 volunteers making it all happen, including the JROTC members from Parrish Community High School.

“We just want to help out our own community and make sure everybody has the food they need,” said John Durocher, 14, and a member of the school’s JROTC. “Everyone needs to have a good Thanksgiving, a good time with their family and we’re here to help. There are families in need and don’t have enough to buy their own Thanksgiving so we’re going to give them their Thanksgiving and they’re going to have a good time. We’re just here to help everyone out.”

It’s a community thing and, “there are a great bunch of people here,” Rackey said.

Among the giveaway items were cartons of orange juice donated by Tropicana. Local Domino’s Pizza franchise owner Erin Mullins ensures the volunteers are well fed by donating dozens of pizza to the food bank volunteers every other Saturday when it’s taking place.

As people drove through, volunteers loaded trunks and back seats with food.

There were tears. There were smiles. There were prayers, thank yous, blessings and gratitude. One young mother drove by in tears, a look of utter relief on her face as she smiled and simply said, “Thank you so much.”

That’s what it’s all about for church members and volunteers like Tami Goudy.

“It’s just a good way to give back to the community and let people know we care,” Goudy said. “We’ve handed out food for hundreds and hundreds of families and they come through the line and they’re crying and telling us they are sorry they have to be here and all you can say is, ‘God bless you and I’m glad we can be here to help.’”

And for many of the volunteers, including Reese Green, helping has become a full time mission to serve.

“I first came out to do volunteer hours, but as I kept coming and coming, it became more of a thing for me to do because helping all these families get their food for the week is very meaningful to me in that I can give back to my community,” Reese said. “It’s very enriching for both me and the people receiving this food.”

The Parrish United Methodist Church, 12180 U.S. 301, has a daily food pantry of the basics for those need. They do the bigger drive-thru food giveaway every other Saturday.