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by Bridgette Bonner
Imagine a child asking her parents to take her to a homeless shelter so she can help make sure everyone has turkey on Thanksgiving, or asking Santa to bring toys to girls and boys who do not have any already. These are the kinds of stories that touch the hearts of volunteers and staff members at missions around the Chattahoochee Valley.
“There was one time,” said Joshua McQuien, development director at Valley Rescue Mission, “where an 8-year-old suggested that for Christmas all of the neighbors, who usually exchange gifts, should give all of the gifts they bought one another to Valley Rescue. They did, all because of the inspiration of an 8-year-old.”
Thanksgiving can be more than a time to give thanks. It can be a time to give back to the community and help those less fortunate. Fortunately, there are missions around the Columbus and Phenix City area to do just that.
Valley Rescue Mission on 2nd Avenue throws an annual Thanksgiving banquet on Thanksgiving Day, which executive director Rhonda Mobley says is one of their biggest events of the year. The banquet is held in the parking lot under large tents and is a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, ham, cornbread and the works. They even have live music and a speaker to entertain the crowd.
Volunteers who help on Thanksgiving generally help from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. by serving, preparing and cleaning up after the meal. Valley Rescue Mission serves between 700 and 800 meals on Thanksgiving. The staff and volunteers begin preparing the meals a few days before the banquet and generally have 100 turkeys and 50 hams. The Mission needs turkey and ham donations and volunteers to help cut meat the day before Thanksgiving.
In addition to serving at the banquet, Valley Rescue Mission delivers meals to senior citizens on Thanksgiving, and volunteers help with deliveries. “This is a good way for families with small children to make a difference without having to worry about the kids being around hot food,” Mobley said. “The family gets to stay together and take meals to others.”
Mobley remembers a few instances where children have stepped forward to help the Mission. “One child had people bring gifts to the mission for her birthday. She didn’t want birthday presents for herself. Instead she told her friends before the party to bring things for kids at Valley Rescue,”Mobley said.
Jean Royer of Columbus has been volunteering at Valley Rescue Mission for 25 years. Her mother fell ill and Royer needed someone to stay with her, so a friend mentioned the people at Valley Rescue Mission. She wanted to give back to the Mission and heard on the radio that the shelter needed volunteers, so she and her late husband went to see what they could do to help.
“I have always thought of it as a blessing to be able to serve or help others,” Royer said. “My husband and I began doing this together, and after he passed eight years ago, I kept it up.”
Royer volunteers for the Thanksgiving and Christmas banquets, and has only missed one year since she began with Valley Rescue Mission. She is one of the volunteers that serves meat onto the plates, and others bring the plates to the needy under the tents for the Thanksgiving banquet. The Christmas banquet is held indoors, and Royer is on the serving line for Christmas as well. Other volunteers then bring the prepared plates to those around tables, away from the cold.
“I feel like I ammore blessed than those getting the Thanksgiving meal just by being able to serve them. That has always been something I’ve enjoyed,” Royer said.
There is also an annual Thanksgiving banquet at Open Door Community House, on 2nd Ave., which serves those who stay at the facility as well as thosefrom the area in need. The banquet is November 19 at 6 p.m. and has been a growing event for Open Door.
Kim Jenkins, executive director, said three groups have asked to volunteer for the Thanksgiving banquet and that they are full for volunteers, but for those wishing to get involved in volunteering or donating, she has good news. Christmas is a time when the Open Door Community House needs a lot of help.
“We set up a Christmas store and have new clothes and toys for ages infant to 18, and we always need people to help collect items, set up the store and be somewhat of a personal shopper for those in need,” Jenkins said. “We also have a toy drive and a coat drive around Christmas time, and kids are welcome to help in the store with that.”
Jenkins said the clothing ministry always needs help sorting and hanging clothes, especially around the holiday season, and that anyone is welcome to volunteer. “This is a place families have fun helping. They can come in together and sort clothes and decide how and where they should be set up. Occasionally we see kids playing dress-up in the clothing ministry, and they have fun with that.”
Another area the Open Door Community House can use help in is the after-school program, which focuses on improving reading skills. “Anyone with a love for children who wants to share and teach them to read better would fit in here,” Jenkins said. “The children read to the adults, which improves their skills, rather than the other way around.”
“Children really can make a difference,” Jenkins said. “There was a 7-year-old girl that came in here with her parents and decided we did not have enough blue jeans, so she went to all of her neighbors’ doors and asked for their old jeans to bring here. Then she asked her classmates to look through their closets for jeans and shoes. Kids can be so creative.”
If your closets are full of clothes that have grown too small, a fun family activity may be to go through these together and make a stack to donate with your kids. Give your kids the gift of giving this holiday season, and show them that giving thanks can be best accomplished by giving back.
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