A meal from the heart
Posted On: Friday, Nov. 27 2009 05:28 AM
By Mason W. Canales
Killeen Daily HeraldThe Salvation Army and Faith Temple Church put nearly 300 Thanksgiving meals in the hands of the hungry Thursday with help from other churches like First United Methodist Church and volunteers.
"We are delivering about 200 meals to the community, and we will serve about 100 meals to people that will walk in," said Rev. Cecil Bowles, Faith Temple Church outreach pastor. "We deliver to Nolanville, Harker Heights and Killeen."
The 200 delivered meals were those that are normally transported by Meals On Wheels, which does not operate on Thanksgiving, Bowles said.
The Salvation Army provided most of the side dishes for the meal, including mashed potatoes, dressing, yams, green beans and more, Bowles said. Other local church congregations brought turkeys, which they prepared at home before the 10:30 a.m. delivery time for the meals.
Volunteers from a multitude of local congregations gathered to either deliver or help cook food.
Luz Evelyn Rubianes and Myra McQueen, both of Faith Temple Church, arrived at First United Methodist Church at 7 a.m. to cook the many side dishes from scratch.
"This is my heart, this is my passion," McQueen said.
They both came armed with aprons and calculators to accurately expand the measurements for the massive cooking event, Rubianes said.
"It is an awesome feeling knowing that I helped cooked for hundreds of people that may not have had meals today," Rubianes said.
Tim Noble gathered his family to contribute to the cause by delivering food.
"We are just hoping to give people a little bit of joy, and to let them know they are not insignificant on a day like today," Noble said.
People eating those meals were thankful for the Thanksgiving generosity.
"It was very nice," said Rodney Hunter who was thankful for another blessed day.
Salvation Army Lt. Jason Moore was thankful for the community effort to provide the meal.
"I am really amazed that this can bring the community together," Moore said. "It is very encouraging that God would allow us to experience such togetherness."
For many families, the meals cooked and distributed from the First United Methodist Church has been a part of their Thanksgiving tradition, Bowles said. His own family would protest if they didn't attempt to help, he added.
"It is Thanksgiving and we try to focus on that as two different words, the thanks and the giving," Bowles said. "Without the giving, you can't have the thanks. This is a higher priority to do this than our traditional Thanksgiving because we can get together any time."
Contact Mason W. Canales at
mcanales@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7554.