Community members enjoy a free Thanksgiving Dinner at CommonGround Christian Community Center. (Provided Photo)
At CommonGround Thanksgiving dinner, Owego churches served those in need
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have family and friends with whom to gather for Thanksgiving; for some of these folks the churches of Owego became their Thanksgiving family this year.
On Black Friday morning about a dozen volunteers from six churches headed to CommonGround Christian Community Center at 28 W. Main St. in Owego instead of queuing up at area stores.
Around 1:30 p.m., their guests arrived, some via transportation provided by those churches. At 2 p.m. thanks was given and a traditional Thanksgiving dinner was served, family style. Volunteers then took their places at table. Guests and hosts shared time, food and conversations that seemed to grow warmer and livelier, even as the food disappeared.
By 3:30 p.m., with hearts and bellies full, guests started heading home, most with to-go boxes. More than a dozen meals were also delivered to people who weren’t able to make it to CommonGround.
Churches participating the event included the First Baptist Church of Owego; First Presbyterian Union Church, Owego; Most Holy Rosary Church, Maine; Owego Church of the Nazarene; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Owego; and Zion Lutheran Church, Owego. Funding for the dinner was provided via a Thrivent Action Team donation obtained through Zion Lutheran Pastor Aaron Schiann.
CommonGround Pastoral Coordinator Robert Henrich pointed to the dinner as a good example of the type of community-building events the center seeks to provide.
“It goes beyond feeding people,” Henrich said. “As we did with the Summer Food Service Program, churches came together here not just to provide meals but also, and more importantly, to get to know our neighbors, to show them they are valued. The goal is to do together what we can’t to apart – and to help build a stronger, healthier, more interconnected community, one person at a time.”
The dinner would not have been possible, Henrich noted, without a grant from the Community Foundation for South Central New York for the installation of new furnaces. He also cited the excellent work of the Scott Smith and Son crew that “went above and beyond” to complete the installation in time for the dinner.
The center has not, however, been able to obtain funding for much-needed insulation, making heating necessary for building use cost-prohibitive. Minimal heat will be maintained in the building during the winter, just enough to allow reconstruction to continue, but additional programming will not be scheduled until the spring. Henrich hopes to be able to offer a full schedule of programs and events next year.
