CLEVELAND — This Thanksgiving, the community is thankful for one local church, who is donating their time and resources to keep them fed.
“It’s Thanksgiving Day, God has been so good,” said Pastor Cecil Gamble Jr.
A tradition going on for eight years at Greater Mt. Calvary Church of God In Christ in Cleveland has people like Fred Jefferson traveling near and far.
“I rode my bike all the way from Garfield,” said Fred Jefferson.
People like Jefferson say they’re visiting not just to receive a free Thanksgiving meal but also for a sense of community.
“I’m just thankful that the church is here,” said Al Porter.
Porter, who’s a familiar face in the community, tells News 5 he came for fellowship after losing his mom earlier this year.
“Today, nine times out of 10 I would’ve been eating alone,” said Porter.
Now in his home away from home, Porter can bond with those around him.
“I’m surrounded by people that I’ve worked with,” said Porter.
Pastor Cecil Gamble Jr. says this is the mission of their church.
“This is what the church is about,” said Gamble. “The church is about people, without people there is no church.”
At Thursday’s community dinner, volunteers like Congressman Max Miller helped serve dozens of plates to the community.
“I couldn’t be prouder to be here and honored to serve the people of this area,” said Congressman Max Miller of Ohio’s 7th Congressional District.
They even prepared nearly 50 to-go meals for those who couldn’t make it in person, and had a harvest table full of goodies for people to take home.
“We just want to be a blessing to people so it’s always been a passion of mine being a child, I come from the South, so I believe in giving back to the people, so that’s what we are today (Thursday),” said Community Dinner Organizer, Brenda Lester Jacobs.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
