Two thousand individuals in central Ohio this Thanksgiving ate meals consisting of traditional favorites.
Catholic Social Services (CSS), which serves the 23-county Columbus diocese, hosted its first annual “Everything But the Turkey” food collection drive on Friday, Nov. 14, less than two weeks before Thanksgiving Day.
CSS invited community members to its Our Lady of Guadalupe Center, located in Columbus’ west side. The center serves the Latino population through classes, workshops and a cultural food pantry.
For the first time, the organization partnered with corporations, businesses, schools, churches and individuals to box Thanksgiving meals for people who would otherwise be without.
“We are witnessing volunteerism at a large scale,” CSS president and CEO S. Kelley Henderson said.
During the three-hour “Everything But the Turkey” drive, 42 volunteers packed 500+ boxes of food, each feeding a family of four, equating to more than 2,000 individuals with full tummies on Thanksgiving.
Boxes were delivered to CSS’ three primary populations served – seniors, families with children and disabled individuals – just in time for the holiday.
Meal boxes contained a “Happy Thanksgiving” card and staple food items. Donations came from 17 various organizations – churches, schools and business partners – each assigned a specific item.
Food included canned vegetables, yams, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing mix and dessert mixes. While meat was missing, each box included a gift card for a Thanksgiving turkey.
More than 20 employees from American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest electric utility companies in the country, a supporter and community-engaged partner of CSS, volunteered at the meal-packing drive.
The company brought employees from corporate AEP – located in downtown Columbus – AEP Ohio and AEP Transmission, a subsidiary of the company based in Pataskala.
The company is a longtime partner of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Center.
“We believe in the same mission,” said Jackie Orozco, communications and community engagement lead at AEP. “It’s part of our core principles to help with the community.”
A number of local individuals and families also lent a hand at the drive.
“We have a saying at Catholic Social Services that we never do this work alone,” Henderson noted. “Ministry is better together. We … help our neighbors in need, but we also connect them with people who are willing to serve.”
The drive’s participants lined each side of a conveyer belt, filling boxes with Thanksgiving foods. Others disassembled cardboard and compiled bags for re-use at the center’s food pantry. A few served as quality control, ensuring each box contained the necessary items.
Volunteers who delivered the Thanksgiving meal boxes across central Ohio spent time with their recipients. Equally – if not more – important was offering love, support and hope to the needy.
“Part of what we do is accompany people,” Henderson said. “It’s not just about the things that we can provide.
“It’s about the hope and the accompaniment that comes from a neighbor who cares. That’s incarnational.”
CSS provides additional support to clients during the holiday season. The opening of its new Our Lady of Guadalupe Center facility earlier this year presented an opportunity to expand services.
Henderson said CSS hopes to begin an annual tradition.
“We may not agree on everything. We can agree that it’s better if we do it together,” he explained of bringing various members of the community together for a drive.
“We can be neighbors, especially during this time of year.”
Catholic Church teaching on serving the needy inspired Maggie Noblet, a Columbus St. Patrick parishioner, to bring five of her 10 children to the drive.
A homeschooling mother, Noblet transferred the classroom to the Our Lady of Guadalupe Center warehouse on Nov. 14.
“What better way to teach the Corporal Works of Mercy (seven charitable actions found in Christ’s teachings) than to actually come and do it?” she reflected. “We took off school today, and I thought this would be a better lesson than learning your math and ABCs.”
Noblet, whose children range from 19- to 1-year-old, is eager to instill the virtue of charity.
“When you have plenty, you should share,” she said. “We should be charitable with what we have. If you don’t have a lot that you can share, you can always volunteer – you give your time, your work.
“We’re able to donate our work to … those who aren’t able to … get out to the grocery store to get their own groceries for Thanksgiving.”
The drive also brought an element of nostalgia. Noblet recalled her mother, Lorraine, taking her as a child to pack grocery carts with food for people in need at Christmastime.
She enjoyed bringing several of her children to do the same at Thanksgiving.
“A lot of us, in our own churches, our towns, our own homes, you don’t see the need. You don’t see what people are going through,” she acknowledged. “We kind of live in our own little bubble.
“This is a concrete way to show your kids that there are things that you can do for those people who need it.”
John Byrne, a retiree who attends the Columbus Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization parish, participated in the drive and has volunteered with CSS for several months.
“The staff here are amazing,” he emphasized. “They’re fun, but they’re also dedicated, and they are on task all the time.
“The other volunteers have been absolutely amazing. It’s like a little family.”
Going forward, CSS hopes to be resourceful for parishes, schools and businesses in the communities it serves.
“Who knows,” Henderson added, “maybe we can do something like this in your local parish or your local neighborhood next year.”
CSS serves more than 11,000 individuals annually, operating as a source of compassion, dignity and hope for poor and vulnerable seniors and families in the community since 1945.
