For the past eight years, volunteers at the Bald Eagle United Methodist Church have been organizing “Project Turkey”.
The project was designed to help provide a traditional Thanksgiving meal to area residents who otherwise may not have one.
In the past two years, the group has been making over 180 meals and plan to do so again this year.
Sign up sheets are placed at Graystone, the Pennsylvania House and Tyrone House so residents can request meals.
Then, church members and volunteers gather the morning before Thanksgiving to prepare the meals.
The cooking begins by 9 a.m. and by 4 p.m. volunteers are ready to dish meals out. After so many years, they have developed an efficient system and meals are ready to go a half hour later. Volunteer drivers then deliver the meals to those individuals who signed up.
While primarily geared toward area senior citizens, the group has been known to deliver meals to others in need as well. Often times, church members will request meals for friends or neighbors.
According to Pastor Michele Somerville, “It is really an amazing thing to see, the way they prepare the meals.”
She said after organizing the project for so many years, they really have it down to a science.
Most of the food and ingredients are donated and the meals are prepared at the church. There are also volunteers that deliver the meals in the evening.
Pastor Somerville said members of the Grazierville United Methodist Church also donate to the project, whether it is monetary, necessary items or time.
“I know there are others who don’t have, but we still manage to deliver meals to a lot of people,” Somerville said of Project Turkey.
She also said some individuals send donations after receiving a meal. That money goes into a fund that is used for other projects, so it goes right back into the community.
This year’s meal will be delivered on Wednesday, November 22 and will include turkey, gravy, filling, baked corn, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie with cool whip.
