Guests gather for a ‘common family’ Thanksgiving at CommonGround Christian Community Center.
One of the great joys of the holiday season is gathering with family to share special meals, celebrations, stories and good times. But for many singles and couples without family nearby, with no way to visit far-off relatives, sometimes without a way even to get to local community events, these can be days when emptiness and absence is most keenly felt. So CommonGround Christian Community Center volunteers and CommonGround’s partner churches once again worked together to offer these friends and neighbors a “Common Family Thanksgiving.”
“As we learned last year,” CommonGround Pastoral Coordinator Robert Henrich said, “it isn’t easy to find these friends in the shadows.” Because they have few connections in the community they don’t readily come to mind. They are invisible on the streets. They receive little notice, so they can wind up living too much of their lives quietly behind closed doors.
“Yet they are as fully members of the human family as anyone else, no less deserving of our respect, of our time and of our friendship,” Henrich emphasized. “We only found fifteen people to invite last year, of which ten attended, so this year we really hit the streets. We wound up inviting thirty-seven people, of which twenty-two accepted, eighteen came, and three meals were delivered. Next year we’re hoping to connect with even more.”
At approximately 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 27, 18 guests arrived at CommonGround, some via volunteer-provided transportation. There they joined with 16 volunteers to share a family-style Thanksgiving dinner. This ‘common family’ chatted, laughed, shared stories, sang Christmas Carols and enjoyed a true family celebration.
Henrich stressed that “It takes a lot to make something like this happen,” noting more than 30 volunteers were involved at various stages. In addition, seven area churches also played key roles: the meal was cooked at First Baptist Church of Owego; tables and logistics support were provided by Owego Church of the Nazarene; chairs had been donated by Sword and The Spirit Christian Fellowship; stuffing, fruits and fall produce, as well as the dishes cleanup crew, was from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church; First Presbyterian Church contributed desserts and a table host; other table hosts and a transportation volunteer came from Zion Lutheran Church; volunteers from Most Holy Rosary Church in Maine also covered transportation needs and cooked desserts.
The event was funded by, and volunteer support was received through a Thrivent Action Team Grant. The Action Team program is a community service provided Thrivent Financial through its members. Thrivent Financial is a Christian, nonprofit financial services organization that has been helping Christians build solid financial futures and strengthen their communities for more than one hundred years.
“This is what CommonGround is all about,” Henrich observed. “We’re here to help churches and community to come together, to do together what we can’t do apart; to help build healthier relationships and a stronger, healthier community – one person, one family, one neighborhood at a time.”
