By Matt de Simone
On Thursday, many households in Botetourt County wake up at the crack o’ dawn (and some before) to begin preparation for another Thanksgiving meal. Churches and other groups in Buchanan start well before Thanksgiving Day to provide meals for families in need and those who may need a place to eat some turkey and dressin’.
Community Church in Buchanan works with Solomon’s Mission to provide a Thanksgiving meal to members of the Botetourt community and surrounding counties.
Director of Solomon’s Mission and Youth Director at Community Church Teresa Rothwell is one of the members of the Buchanan community coordinating the event.
“Churches here in Buchanan work together (preparing Thanksgiving meals for the community),” Rothwell explained in a recent interview. “They start cooking around 6 or 7 Thanksgiving morning. What we see are (mostly) seniors and middle-aged folks that don’t have families who come here to eat.”
Multiple members of the community provide the meal. The church received a recent cash donation to help provide the necessary plates, cups, and décor for the special dinner.
“Since I’ve been in Buchanan, it’s apparent that this is a community of givers—of their time, talents, and resources,” Buchanan Town Manager Susan McCulloch stated in a recent email. “There are extremely hard-working and generous people ensuring that weekly meals are distributed as well as a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Our terrific community continually humbles us.”
Last year, the Local Office on Aging (LOA) and the Botetourt Resource Center provided meals due to COVID restrictions. Community Church and Solomon’s Mission are pleased to provide Thanksgiving this year for Buchanan residents and anyone outside the area who may look for a place to spend their holiday.
The Botetourt Food Pantry in Fincastle and Buchanan Fountain and Grille restaurant provided turkeys for the dinner at Solomon’s Mission. For the previous three weekends, the pantry supplied over 80 families with the fixings. Last Saturday, the pantry handed out an additional 60 turkeys (more will be available at the Dec. 18 pantry). Feeding America and the Botetourt Longbeards also donated some of their turkeys.
For more than a dozen years, the Botetourt Longbeards Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) has provided frozen turkeys and turkey breasts to four county food pantries—the Botetourt Food Pantry in Fincastle, the Buchanan Area Ministerial Association (BAMA), Troutville Baptist Church and Springwood Baptist Church. The Longbeards also deliver to the Eagle Rock community through the Eagle Rock Ruritan Club and Eagle Rock Elementary School.
While the Longbeards have other outreach programs for youth, women, and disabled sportsmen and women, the chapter focuses most of its fundraising for county activities on its Turkey Hunters Care project—providing $6,000 to $10,000 in frozen turkeys and other protein to the food pantries at Thanksgiving and Christmas and, if possible, at different times during the year.
“For years we met up at a designated time and place, assigned names, and hand delivered turkeys to many households in the northern Botetourt area,” Eagle Rock Ruritans member Donna Vaughan said in a recent email. “Lately, due to COVID and other circumstances, we have refrigerated these gifted turkeys in the Eagle Rock Elementary School cafeteria and they have distributed them.”
The food pantries picked up about 200 frozen turkey breasts plus other frozen turkey items last week for their November distribution days.
“It’s very much a cooperative effort,” Longbeard member Ed McCoy said. “The Botetourt Rotary Club provided a donation to the Longbeards to assist with purchases this year. The Longbeards have been fortunate to be able to acquire large quantities of turkeys and breasts over the years, usually at discounted prices, so our dollars go further.”
The Town of Buchanan has also assisted by providing freezer space for the Longbeards to store turkeys until they can be distributed to the food pantries.
“Of course, the food pantries are so important to the communities they serve,” McCoy continued. “Organizations like the Longbeards, Rotary, Ruritans, Lions, other community organizations, churches, schools, local businesses, and individuals… we all work with the food pantries cooperatively to help our community.”
Lord Botetourt and James River High Schools, Breckinridge Elementary, and Central Academy Middle School donated additional food items from food drives.
“Everybody works so well together in this community, which is wonderful,” Rothwell added. “It’s humbling to be able to serve the community on Thanksgiving Day. People need somewhere to gather. We could do it on different days, but one thing we’ve learned is that if it’s on the day-of, (guests are) overwhelmed that someone took the time (to provide a Thanksgiving meal).”
Community Church in Buchanan’s Thanksgiving meal on Thursday starts at noon and lasts until 2 p.m. at Solomon’s Mission. The meal is open to the people in Buchanan and the surrounding communities.
