Dozens of volunteers donated, cooked, and prepared thousands of meals for residents in Fordham Manor, Bedford Park, and other neighborhoods across The Bronx, as residents were treated to traditional Thanksgiving dinners either in person or to go on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24.

 

Parishioners at Fordham United Methodist Church, located on Marion Avenue in Fordham Manor, were still only providing meals “to go” as COVID-19 protocols would continue for a third year.

As a crowd began to form outside the church, church member, Coral Robinson, led volunteers in prayer, giving blessings to the volunteers, the people lining up outside, as well as the food. “We ask for your blessings on everyone who expended energies on the shopping and everything, the donations, everything in preparation for this time,” Robinson said. “As we serve the community this day, in this special way, may they be nourished not just physically, but find a spiritual feeding to their souls.”

 

According to Edward Koku, organizer of the yearly Thanksgiving dinner, and a member of the Fordham United Methodist Church’s trustees, the group was prepared to feed 500 people this year. Asked where the food came from, Koku replied, “The food comes from the members. Yes, they contribute and they cook it and bring it. A portion…they are going to feed their families. Everybody brings [another] portion here and we share it with the public.”

Koku said he’s been organizing the annual Thanksgiving dinner for the last 15 years. With several hours still remaining on the day during which people could still pick up dinners, Koku said he believed 25 volunteers had, at that point, already turned up to volunteer. By the end of the day, the total number of volunteers was expected to reach around 40.

 

He recalled, “Last year, we served 406, you know? That was after COVID but before COVID, we were serving about 500.” This year, the church was expected to, once again, provide 500 complete turkey dinners to the public. Koku added, “The need is still great.”

 

Exiting the church with his holiday meal, Fordham Manor resident, Christopher Horton, said this was the second year he stopped by for a holiday meal, adding, “I think it’s great. I looked forward to it since last year, so I came back. I didn’t know they were going to do it this year, but I saw the sign and wanted to come back.”

 

He added, “The food’s really good. I think this is an African congregation, so there’s some African food too, so I’ll be looking forward to that as well. They bring their own twist [to the cuisine], their own traditions.”

Several blocks away in Bedford Park, a small army of volunteers from the nonprofit, Part Of The Solution (POTS), from nearby Webster Avenue in Bedford Park, were joined by volunteers from the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, New York, who, for the last four decades, have provided residents of the local Bronx community with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, served at Our Lady of Refuge Church on East 196th Street in Fordham Manor.

 

Fordham Manor resident, Al Johnson, was one of the many visitors to Our Lady of Refuge church who decided to take his meal to go. Johnson, who has been visiting the church on the annual holiday for the last three years, said of the tradition, “If you go inside, you can sit down, and eat, and really enjoy the hospitality.” He added, “It is beautiful to eat at home if you have someone to make the food.”

Asked what he thought about the annual tradition of feeding the community on the holiday, Johnson replied, “I think it’s the best thing that ever happened to this community, and I think people need to come here to give praise to this guy, right here,” pointing to a statue of Jesus Christ. He concluded, “I need to come here once in a while and give thanks for everything I ever achieved in life.”

 

Meanwhile, Maureen Gomez of Church of the Resurrection, told Norwood News that volunteers were expected to serve 1,200 meals at Our Lady of Refuge Church, before the day was over. She recalled, “During COVID, we had a great deal of reticence about people coming in to sit down. So, we did a fairly brisk to go (service), but this year, we have people sitting down, as well as immunocompromised just grabbing and going.”

 

Gomez added, “POTS is the organization we support, and they are closed two days a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, our church steps in to feed their guests the days that they have off.” According to Gomez, Church of the Resurrection volunteers have been feeding visitors at Our Lady of Refuge church in The Bronx for about 42 years.

Meanwhile, despite having the day off, Christina Hansen, executive director of POTS, was on hand to help out on the day. She said of the special dinner, “This is our 40th anniversary, and we’re really happy to serve lunch on this Thanksgiving Day, in partnership with a group we have worked with since our beginning, Resurrection Church.”

 

Hansen added, “So, we like to honor long-term relationships, and this is just an example of that. We’re happy to be here for the community. We have turkey and the whole meal, pie, fixings for everyone, and we really want to be here for our community on this holiday.” In reference to the hunger problem in the community, Hansen said, “The need has not, unfortunately, gone away.”

A band, made up of volunteers from the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, also performed for residents on the day who decided to eat on site.

 

According to a flyer, a third Thanksgiving dinner was held in Bedford Park at the Refreshing Word Ministries Church, located at East 204th Street and Valentine Avenue, where visitors also had the choice of dining in or picking up a meal to go.