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After 27 years, Community Thanksgiving meal ends; organizers urge churches to step into neighborhood-based model
Summary
Community Thanksgiving organizers told the Gadsden City Council they are ending the long-running citywide Thanksgiving meal after 27 years, citing rising costs and volunteer shortfalls. Organizers and pastors urged churches and neighborhood groups to adopt a decentralized model to continue serving residents.
GADSDEN — Organizers of Community Thanksgiving informed the Gadsden City Council that, after 27 years and nearly 11,000 plates served last year, the board has decided to discontinue the centralized community Thanksgiving meal and encouraged churches and neighborhood groups to take on localized efforts.
"After 27 years of serving our community with Alabama's largest Thanksgiving Day meal, serving nearly 11,000 plates last year, the board has made the tough decision to end the event," Craig Scott, a representative for the Community Thanksgiving board, said during the council's department reports session.
Board chair Darlene Harkrow described rising costs, declining volunteer numbers and increasing demand as the reasons behind the decision and urged local churches to "rise up" and organize neighborhood-based efforts.
Organizers and pastors said the move is intended to restore smaller, more personal neighborhood outreach. Pastor Joe Simmons, who helped start the original effort at New Liberty and participated in a recent pastors' meeting, told the council he envisions a decentralized model in which site pastors coordinate clusters of churches to serve target numbers — for example, about 500 plates per site — rather than one large citywide event. "I believe it has a potential of going way over, 11,000," he said of a future neighborhood-based model.
Funding and supplies
Community Thanksgiving leaders told the council the board will dissolve its 501(c)(3) status and reallocate remaining funds and donated supplies to local churches and organizations. Craig Scott said the group's operating budget was roughly $48,000 and that the food bill last year was about $24,000. The board said it will work with churches to redistribute boxed supplies (including utensils and packaging) to help new or expanded neighborhood efforts get started.
Local continuity and other sites
Council members and staff noted several organizations and churches are already planning Thanksgiving meals at the neighborhood level. The meeting record named specific local efforts: Dynamic Outreach in South Gadsden planned a Thanksgiving service; the Salvation Army indicated capacity for up to 250 plates at its site this year; New Liberty and other churches said they will continue to serve their neighborhoods. City council members encouraged volunteers and churches to coordinate so services do not overlap excessively and to maximize coverage across the city and county.
Council reaction and next steps
Council members thanked the Community Thanksgiving board for decades of service and urged residents who volunteered for the large event to contact local churches or the pastors' coalition organizing neighborhood sites. The organizers scheduled a pastors' meeting to continue planning; Pastor Simmons said a follow-up meeting is set for the coming Saturday at New Liberty to finalize site coordination and volunteer registration.
Speakers quoted here are from the meeting record and are listed in the speakers array for this article.
