‘We could not do this without y’all.’ Army of volunteers aids Columbus mission’s annual Thankgiving feeding
It’s 10:30 in the morning on Thanksgiving Day, and volunteer coordinator Rob Morgan is briefing dozens of volunteers gathered in the lobby of Columbus’ Valley Rescue Mission on Second Avenue.
They’re about to serve hundreds of holiday meals to those in need, but Morgan has just a few things he wants them to keep in mind, before they welcome their guests:
- Be hospitable and friendly, he says: Smile, say hello, tell people your happy they’re there.
- Be respectful, he adds: He knows some will want to take pictures to mark the occasion, especially parents who brought their kids. But be mindful of the guests’ privacy. If they want to photograph anyone who has come to eat, ask first.
- If anyone asks for additional aid, refer them to shelter staff.
- And finally, thank you, he says: The Valley Rescue Mission that opened in 1963 and has served holiday meals for decades, needs their help.
A mission board member, Dan East, added to that: “We could not do this without y’all,” he said. “This is what keeps Valley Rescue Mission going.”
Also addressing the crew is Ernie Perritt, 60, the mission’s food services supervisor, formerly a local restaurateur who once owned Ernesto’s Harbor House in Gentian Corners.
He came to the mission six years ago, after bottoming out with a cocaine addiction that took everything he owned, leaving him homeless. He went through the shelter’s addiction program, got cleaned up, and went back to work, managing the food served daily at the mission’s service centers in Columbus and Hamilton, Ga.
He expected to serve around 850 people Thursday, 500 at the Second Avenue shelter and 350 elsewhere, with some meals delivered to the homebound. On other days the mission feeds about 250 people a day, he said.
The shelter got around 500 donated turkeys this year, more than it needed for Thanksgiving, but the rest will be stored for later, he said.
Mission spokesman Greg Wilson said Masterbuilt of Columbus, which smokes the turkeys for Thanksgiving, handled 103 that were deboned Wednesday by volunteers from the Rotary Club and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Each diner will get turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, a roll, a drink and dessert, Perritt said: “We try to give them a good meal.”
They also might get a little testimony, which he doesn’t mind sharing, having been one of the mission’s clients.
“Six years clean and six years working for the mission – only God can do that,” he said of his recovery. “That’s the testimony, and you’ll never be ashamed to share that.”
The volunteers
Among those volunteering this Thanksgiving are a contingent of 10 Faith Riders, a Christian motorcycle ministry based at Northside Baptist Church in Opelika, Ala.
John Coker, a pastor at Northside, said the group is among 350 chapters nationwide, and they travel around the country to biker events such as annual gatherings in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Sturgis, S.D., where they give away a $35,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle to some fortunate soul who signs up.
Signing up costs no money, but the participant has to be willing to listen for three minutes while a representative talks about faith.
“We have several thousand surrender their lives to Jesus,” he said.
The group feels called to serve “the least of these,” as Jesus commanded, he said, and they believe in engaging the less fortunate.
“Everybody’s story is different,” he said, but, “we all have something in common.”
Their cause sometimes comes as a surprise to those whose first impression is formed by their attire: “They look at us funny when we walk in with our leathers on.”
Also volunteering Thursday was Ramon Ortiz of the Fort Benning Knights of Columbus, who brought along son Luis, 19, and daughter C.C., 16.
It’s not uncommon for whole families to help out, particularly when parents want their children to be mindful of others’ misfortune.
“We know that these are important days, emotionally,” the father said, adding it’s also important that his children “learn to give” as they age.
“They’re going to become good citizens,” he said. “Hopefully I’m a role model.”
Grateful
Among the guests Thursday is Justin Howard, 40, who said he knows he can count on the mission when he can’t fend for himself.
“I’m grateful to be here,” he said. “They let me in their doors while I fix my life.”
Howard was trying to start his own business, “Mom’s Attic,” selling soft drinks, makeup and other goods, while he collected unemployment, but his benefits were cut, so he depends on the shelter when he’s in need.
“I appreciate the help they’re giving me while I put my life in the right,” he said.
As guests poured in from the street, Perritt divided the volunteers into five groups, each assigned to a different section, so no one would get overwhelmed.
“We try to make it flow, make it easy, make it simple,” he said.
They start serving lunch after an 11 a.m. chapel service. The designated serving time is noon to 1 p.m., but as Morgan said, “We don’t push anybody out.”
The diners aren’t just from Columbus. “They come from all over the area,” said Rhonda Mobley, the mission’s executive director.
The Second Avenue shelter has beds for 80 men, but the mission also has room for 17 families at a women and children’s shelter and 30 beds in a women’s addiction recovery program, both in Columbus, plus 36 beds at a men’s recovery program in Hamilton.
From January through October, it served a total 177,000 meals, provided 47,721 nights of lodging, provided free clothing for 2,846 families, and had 55 people graduate from addiction recovery.
It will serve another big meal on Christmas Day, to another influx of guests, but the work never ends, Wilson said, so volunteers are always welcome: “We’re open 365 days a year. We need volunteers year-round.”
The mission needs people to work in its food-service lines, and to pack box lunches that visitors can take with them on weekends. It needs help organizing its food pantry and sorting donated clothing. And it needs tutors in math and reading for kids at the women and children’s shelter.
It also needs to know who those volunteers are, so they can be vetted, particularly if they’re to be around children, he added: “I want to know exactly who that is.”
If they wind up working with Perritt, they may learn a lot about cooking on a budget.
He talks about going to Publix stores at 5 a.m. to pick up perishables the grocery stores otherwise would throw out. He can get meat for 19 cents a pound.
The mission also is among area shelters served by Columbus’ Feeding the Valley nonprofit, he said: “Without them, we couldn’t do what we do. We’d have to triple, quadruple our budget.”
Still some expense is involved: Serving the Thanksgiving meal probably costs about $3,500, he said, with $500 just for pans to put the food in.
Here’s how he estimated the food amounts:
- Turkey, 600 pounds.
- Ham, 300 pounds.
- Mashed potatoes, 200 pounds.
- Green beans, 200 pounds.
- Rolls, 800.
- Desserts, 800 servings.
- Dressing, 40 pans.
- Cranberry sauce, 25 pans.
Just as organizers hope their guests get more than a meal out of this visit, they expect the volunteers will as well.
“What I hope they get from it, especially with the children, is that there’s more going on than what’s going on in their house,” said Morgan. “There’s a community out here that has nothing.”
That can be a stark contrast:
“They get to go home,” he said of the volunteers. “Most of the people that we serve here don’t have a home to go to.”
If you’d like to volunteer, apply online at valleyrescuemission.org.
This story was originally published November 28, 2019 at 4:06 PM.