Thanksgiving ushers
in the return of the holiday season, and with it, family and
feasts.
But many local churches, business and community groups will
focus on the latter part of the compound-worded holiday this
week and onward into Christmas.
Giving will be on the menu at First Baptist and other churches.
Kitty Cammack organized that church’s food drive. Volunteers
will hand out about 250 meals around noon Thanksgiving Day.
They will go to community members who are elderly or handicapped,
as well as to people who are working on the holiday, such as
EMS workers.
The church also prepared food baskets to be handed out today
to families in need. They featuring a ham or turkey and “all
the trimmings,” Cammack said.
The church prepares 10-15 baskets each Thanksgiving, Cammack
said. “But of course it grows every year.”
As of Friday, 17 baskets had been requested.
Other churches are looking to Christmas as a time to help those
in need.
The Rev. Bill Watson of First Christian Church said his congregation
collected 105 shoeboxes filled with gifts as part of the Rev.
Billy Graham’s Operation Christmas Child.
Several other local churches also participated in the program,
which will provide gifts to children throughout the globe.
Watson said First Christian will also sponsor a family in need
for Christmas “that otherwise would fall through the cracks
of all the other organizations helping out.”
First Christian will also have a children’s play for the
holiday at 5 p.m. Dec. 17, and it will host a community church
service at 11 p.m. Christmas Eve.
In addition to programs that focus on the ‘giving’
aspect of the holiday this week, other churches plan to focus
on the fellowship aspect of Thanksgiving.
Several will hold a Thanksgiving service tonight, including
First United Methodist, Greenup Fork and Pleasant Ridge Baptist.
All three services begin at 7 p.m.
Angels
needed
More
than 2,000 years ago, wise men gave gifts to a babe born in
a manger, gifts that would be used to finance a journey to Egypt
that would save his life.
During the 2006 Christmas season, local residents are invited
to give gifts to the youngest members of this community, gifts
that will make a difference in their lives.
The annual Angel Tree will be in place in the front office of
The News-Herald.
Residents are encouraged to stop by, pick an angel off the tree
and return the suggested wrapped gift no later than noon on
Dec. 15.
