Suzie Roach, wife of First Primitive Methodist Church of Nanticoke Pastor Joe Roach, hands bags of take-out Thanksgiving meals to Gerald Mech on Thursday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Nanticoke church observes Thanksgiving by filling stomachs, hearts with free meals
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Jane Jenceleski, a home health care worker, carries bags of take-out Thanksgiving meals for her patients from the First Primitive Methodist Church of Nanticoke.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
First Primitive Methodist Church of Nanticoke Pastor Joe Roach carries bags of Thanksgiving meals on Thursday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Suzie Roach hands a take-out Thanksgiving meal bag to a guest.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Jody Thompson carries her take out Thanksgiving Meal bags from the First Primitive Methodist Church of Nanticoke up Prospect Street on Thursday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
NANTICOKE — A local church helped to fill a void on Thanksgiving, determined to safely provide a Thanksgiving platter to those in need.
The First Primitive Methodist Church of Nanticoke held its second annual free Thanksgiving Meal between Noon and 3 p.m. Thursday, with Pastor Joe Roach, his wife, Suzie, and several other volunteers preparing for the event over the past week.
Standing at a makeshift takeout counter at the building’s entranceway, Suzi Roach scanned through pages of names while working her way through the first few customers of the day. Instead of handshakes, Roach offered virtual hugs to those picking up their meals.
“We really see the need of people in the community,” she said after handing off a large paper bag full of a ready-to eat turkey meal and all the fixings that was largely provided with the help of Schiff’s Market in Forty Fort. “It’s really not about the turkey — it’s about administering hope.”
While last year’s inaugural Thanksgiving event wasn’t planned, Roach and her husband said they prayed about what to do for the holiday this year, as the Coronavirus pandemic left many groups and organizations cancelling their events for the season.
“We wanted to do that again, but we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do it safely.” she said of the event. “Really it’s the community coming together to be able to put this together.”
Keeping safety in mind, Pastor and Mrs. Roach and volunteers split up duties, each taking on certain meal and packaging preparations. Thursday morning the group met at the church, each taking on one of four different socially-distant stations to complete the 200 bags of meals.
As more and more visitors made their way to the front doors of the church, many expressed gratitude for providing the free meals that would ultimately be spread to neighbors, family members and even patients.
Jane Jenceleski, a home health aid, picked up seven meals that she will deliver to her patients going to enjoy her own Thanksgiving. Many seniors who usually rely on groups and organizations for home delivery on Thanksgiving had trouble finding aid this year, she explained.
“Every year they have (other organizations), but this year because of the pandemic … it’s heartbreaking for them. I wanted to help them as much as I could,” Jenceleski said. “This is a blessing. Without these people I don’t know what they would have done.”
After helping delivers several bags of meals to a car, longtime church member and volunteer Terri Meyers explained why she decided to spend her Thanksgiving helping the community.
A mother to a special-needs child whom he currently cannot see due to COVID safety restrictions, Meyers saw a need to give back and serve the less fortunate. So she and her two sisters and helped with the event.
“It makes your heart really warm to see the people that your helping in a time of need and giving them something that they need,” she explained.
Although it’s a good service to help feed the community for the holiday, Pastor and Mrs. Roach said the event is about more than filling empty stomachs: It’s about filling empty hearts.
The pastor said that although the Coronavirus pandemic has closed the doors of many establishments, the church has used it as an opportunity to meet the community in other meaningful ways. It also offers a remote call-in Sunday morning worship through their website, nanticokepmchurch.com
“It no longer becomes about the meal, it becomes about walking alongside our community regardless of whether they can come to our church or not,” he said.