FUMC hosts Thanksgiving meal
Serving others is a Thanksgiving tradition for volunteers at the First United Methodist Church in Siloam Springs.
Each year, the church holds a giant community dinner on Thanksgiving Day for more than 500 people. About 200 people choose to eat at the church and another 300 meals are delivered to homes in the Siloam Springs area.
This year the church, located at 325 E. Twin Springs St., will be serving Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 23. And like every year, the meal is free and everyone is welcome, according to organizer David Graves.
It takes about 160 pounds of turkey, 120 pounds of dressing, 120 pounds of mashed potatoes, 12 trays of green bean casserole and lots of desserts lovingly baked by church members to serve 500 Thanksgiving dinners, Graves said.
Graves has experience running restaurants and working as a caterer, and he strives to create a restaurant-like atmosphere at the church. Those who attend the meal at the church are seated and place their orders with servers, rather than going through a buffet line. Meals are also available to go, he said.
“We just want them to sit down and relax, and just enjoy the holiday,” Graves said.
It takes 35 to 40 volunteers to prepare and serve the meals, Graves said. Some work in the kitchen, others serve tables, set out food or work as delivery drivers. Some of the volunteers are
church members while others just want to find a way to give-back on Thanksgiving.
It is absolutely a misconception that the community meal is only for those who are in need, Graves said. People of all ages and walks of life participate in the meal. Some are in need while others may not want to put a big Thanksgiving meal together for just a handful of people, and some may just want to attend the meal to fellowship with others in the community.
Graves has been organizing the Thanksgiving meal at Siloam Springs First United Methodist Church for about 15 years. He was inspired by his father, who volunteered at a similar event at a Methodist Church in Gainesville, Fla., after his mother’s death.
“One of the best parts is, I have a 12-year-old who doesn’t know what a typical Thanksgiving is like,” Graves said.
Volunteer Tiffanie Smith said she loves the sense of community between the volunteers and the people who eat dinner at the
It was wonderful. It felt like a family, even though you maybe didn’t know everybody there. There were all different ages and all different socio-economic classes — all kinds of community members coming together to eat and … it felt kind of like a home almost. Tiffanie Smith, volunteer delivery driver
church. She has been volunteering for about 13 years with her sons, Heyden and Henley. Her husband, Brett, stays home to prepare the family’s Thanksgiving meal for later that evening.
Her sons started volunteering when they were age 4 and 7. Now her oldest son is 20 and works as a delivery driver while her younger son helps at the church. The family has met many wonderful people through the years while volunteering and has gotten to know some of the elderly people they deliver meals to, Smith said.
Smith often volunteers as a delivery driver, but last year she also worked as a server and spent time washing dishes. One of the volunteers she worked alongside was a John Brown University student who didn’t get to go home for the holiday and his girlfriend.
“It was wonderful,” she said. “It felt like a family, even though you maybe didn’t know everybody there. There were all different ages and all different socio-economic classes — all kinds of community members coming together to eat and… it felt kind of like a home almost.”
For more information, to volunteer or to schedule a meal delivery, call the church office at 479-5246111.