OK Kitchen served over 700 Thanksgiving dinners
Provided photo: More than 50 volunteers helped prepare and serve a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday at the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen at Harvest Christian Fellowship. From left include Scott Barbato, Dee Huntington, Pastor Jovannie Canales and Rick Huntington.
ALBION – The Orleans Koinonia Kitchen set a new record by serving 716 Thanksgiving meals on Thursday.
That topped the 630 served last year for free to the community. The kitchen also had 79 dinners left on Thursday and those have been frozen to be used in the future.
“We saw a lot of new faces we’d never seen before,” said Faith Smith, director of the OK Kitchen at Harvest Christian Fellowship.
Many of the people who came to the church for a meal are feeling a financial pinch and others welcomed the chance to eat Thanksgiving with friends and family at the church or with take-outs or deliveries, Smith said.
More than 50 people volunteered to prepare the meal, serve and deliver it. Smith said volunteers delivered meals 439 meals to nine out of the 10 towns in Orleans County – everyone except Barre.
Many churches and businesses in the community donated to effort on Thursday.
“Everything went smoothly,” she said.
Smith and her husband Mike started the day early and were able to get home at 9 p.m.
The meals were served at the church from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
