LUMBERTON, Miss. (WDAM) – Many people will spend next week in the kitchen prepping for Thanksgiving.
In Lumberton, volunteers are taking on the task a little sooner.
“Friendsgiving” is set to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday at The Lumberton Church, 209 W Main Ave., Lumberton.
“We have turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole,” said Nadara Wortham, Friends of the Lumberton Library president.
The list goes on.
The Lumberton library and local organization, Friends of the Lumberton Library, joined forces to feed as many people as possible for their annual “Friendsgiving.”
“Last year, we didn’t have half as much food as we did this year,” Wortham said. “We served 198 people last year. And this year, we want to see at least 300 people.”
Volunteers started cooking on Monday.
Wortham said the entire menu was based on donations, including 15 turkeys.
“I love this,” Wortham said. “If just one day a year, we can bring people together, feed them, give them a full belly that makes everybody happy, and let them know that somebody cares about them.
“And as our food drive has showed, there’s a lot of people that care.”
Friends of the Lumberton Library started collecting food donations in September.
The town’s generosity left the group looking for somewhere to cook all of the food.
That’s where King’s Arrow Ranch came in.
“Whenever we were talking about cooking all the turkeys that had been donated and all the food that had been donated and where we could go, this just seemed like a perfect fit,” said Kim Cooper, King’s Arrow Ranch co-owner. “There’s not a lot of kitchens that are large enough to hold this much,”
As the last turkeys come out of the oven and finishing touches go on side dishes, organizers aren’t waiting until Friendsgiving to express their gratitude.
“It’s been a blessing. It’s just been really great to see the outpouring of support, see people show up to help cook, donate the food if they couldn’t come to help cook.”
All leftover donations will go to the Lumberton Library and a blessing box in Lumberton.
” I want to thank everybody who came together to help. I mean, even from a can of green beans to turkeys, thank you,” Wortham said.
Friends of the Lumberton Library will also distribute clothes, hats and gloves for those in need Thursday.
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