Hungry Hearts Feeding Ministry and First Christian Church host free Thanksgiving dinner for the community

LAWTON, OK (RNN Texoma) - Hungry Hearts Feeding Ministry and First Christian Church partnered together to make sure no one is alone or hungry during the holidays by serving a free Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday evening.

“I think sometimes we take it so for granted that we can go stand in front of our refrigerators and we can open it up and we can prepare a meal," said Adriene Davis, director of Hungry Hearts Feeding Ministry. "There are so many that don’t have that and cannot prepare a meal every day and not only that, we have our seniors that are on fixed incomes. People are just falling on hard times and barely making ends meat, so for some it’s a daily, day to day struggle. So, if this one meal, to be able to come in and be surrounded by people and have conversation and just be able to breath and relax for a little while, that’s what it means to me. Somebody’s going to have some joy. Somebody’s going to have some comfort and some peace.”

Hungry Hearts and First Christian Church both serve meals to the community at the same facility, but this is the first time they have worked together.

“Weekly, we serve a meal out of our fellowship on Wednesday evenings from 6p.m.-7p.m. anyway. So, when it fell so close to the Thanksgiving holiday, we thought, why don’t we partner with Hungry Hearts Feeding Ministry and offer a meal together to make sure those who are alone on the holidays or those who need food have somewhere to go and something to eat,” said Brandon Johnson, pastor of First Christian Church.

Johnson said both the church and the organization share a common goal- loving people.

“Well, one of our core understandings is to love our neighbors, and neighbors this time of year can often be alone, can’t afford a turkey dinner, or, for some kind of reason, need a place to not only be safe and warm, but also to be well fed," said Johnson. "So, we do this because we are called to love our neighbor, and that doesn’t change around Thanksgiving or Christmas. So, we see that as incredibly important this time of year.”

Davis said the Thanksgiving meal would not have been possible if not for the donations made by the community.

“We are so grateful that we had the opportunity just to do something in the community, to be a part of our community, and making sure that those that are in need are being helped and the best that we’re able to help them and assist them in what they need,” said Davis.

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