Derik Vanderford|Daily Times Oakbrook Community Church, 520 Alman St., Jonesville, will serve Thanksgiving dinner from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. The public is invited to come and dine at the church or take home dinner. Church members will also be delivering meals to residents of Pacolet, Jonesville and Union.

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JONESVILLE — A church’s commitment to serving others will provide residents of three communities with Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day.

Oakbrook Community Church, 520 Alman St., will hold its annual Thanksgiving community dinner, delivering meals in Pacolet, Jonesville and Union and serving both dine-in and takeout meals at the church.

“We deliver the Pacolet Meals on Wheels route, the Jonesville Senior Citizens, and the Union Meals on Wheels route,” Tamara Burgess, wife of Pastor Randy Burgess, said Tuesday. “We deliver those routes and we also have tables set up at the church for people who would like to dine with us. They can also carryout their meals if they want to.

“This is a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, dressing and gravy, macaroni pie, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, dessert, and drink,” she said. “Our food is cooked by the members of the church. We cook the meals, we deliver them, we serve them, we do it all. It is all done by volunteers. We usually have 40 to 50 volunteers at the church who do all this.”

Burgess said this is the 12th year the church has served Thanksgiving dinner. She said it grew out of the church’s efforts to find new ways to minister to the community.

“Our church is big on ministry, on helping people,” Burgess said. “I got to thinking that Thanksgiving is a good time to serve people. I brought it up to some people in the church and we’ve been doing it ever since.”

The church will be open from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and Burgess said anyone who wants to dine there or pick up a meal to carry home is welcome to do so.

“Just come on it, the doors of the church will be open,” Burgess said. “Nobody has to call and reserve a meal. Just come on in and dine here or carry a plate home with you.”

Burgess said the goal of the meals is to minister not only to physical needs but to spiritual needs as well.

“The holidays are a time when many people feel forgotten, either because they have no family or their family doesn’t live close by,” Burgess said. “This is our way of showing them they are not forgotten and that we love them and Christ loves them.”

Editor Charles Warner can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 14, or by email at cwarner@heartlandpublications.com.