BATTLE MOUNTAIN - Eight local churches joined forces Nov. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Battle Mountain Civic Center to offer a free Thanksgiving meal for all local residents that included all of the traditional holiday foods.
More than 200 people attended the event that brought together the United Methodist Church, St. John Bosco Catholic Church, Assembly of God Church, Four Square Gospel Church, Hilltop Baptist Church, Fellowship Baptist Church, Calvary Chapel and the Lutheran Church.
The church pastors organized the event, setting it up and providing the main dishes. Each church was responsible for a portion of the meal and church members pitched in to bring various foods, said Pat Brickley, an attendee and member of the United Methodist Church. She said the turnout was excellent.
"It was just a warm feeling to see so many people come out and enjoy the meal and companionship," she said. "I think so much of the time nowadays we tend to get so involved in our own activities. It is just a good time to get together where people are sharing. It's one time when we're all giving to others."
Members of each church volunteered to do the set-up, decorations, serving and clean-up. This is an annual event that has been going on since the 1990s.
"It was originally set up as an opportunity for all of the interested churches in the community to come together to give thanks to God for our blessings," Brickley said. "We immediately realized it was also a wonderful time for us to share and socialize with other Christians in other churches. We have much more in common than we realized. It didn't take us long to decide we wanted to share this time with the whole community. For us, this is a time of sharing our blessings with others. ... It is simply a time of celebration and thanksgiving."
Elsa Guizar, a member and secretary of St. John Bosco Catholic Church, said the dinner was a fun event.
"Everybody was pleased and happy," she said. "It went well. It was nice."
Dorothy Naveran, a member of the United Methodist Church, helped to set up tables at the dinner.
"It was wonderful," she said. "I thought the food was delicious. Everyone worked hard and they had a good turnout. It is always nice to get the community together."[[In-content Ad]]
