Members from Grace Tabernacle, a church located in Wildwood, served an early Thanksgiving to members of the community on Saturday afternoon. Grace Tabernacle volunteers, who sponsor multiple programs that benefit the community and those less fortunate, both prepared and served all food at the event that was open to the public. Ace’s Towing, owned and operated by Miguel Matos, shut down operations for the day and hosted the event at their Leesburg facility.
“This is the first event we’ve hosted. We’ve been trying to do this for years…I don’t know how it started, but it started” said Matos of the event. Both Matos and members of Grace Tabernacle confirmed that this will not be the last time they host the event, which was open to needy families when it began, but was made open to the general public as the day went on.
“We want to feed the needy…but are going to feed everyone as well,” said Pamela Unruh, the leader of the group of volunteers from Grace Tabernacle. Pamela and her husband Robert are residents of Pennbrooke Fairways and see the event as a needed relief for the community. “This is an outreach to the community to bring them together. It’s unbelievable that people this close to us have to live [in these conditions]. Our hearts go out to the community here” said Unruh of the event.
“I worked 46 years at Monroe Regional Hospital as a nurse so that I could do this,” said Cathy Pennypacker of her time volunteering at Grace Tabernacle. The former nurse says she has always looked forward to the day that she could devote more of her time to the community and their needs.
The group prepared 20 turkeys, large trays of all traditional Thanksgiving fixings, and dozens of sweets for the Thanksgiving event. That didn’t stop friends at Oscar’s Donuts, a Leesburg based donut shop, from stopping by after closing their doors for the day to drop off hundreds of donuts for all to enjoy.
While this is Grace Tabernacle’s second time hosting an event of this nature, members of the church have been reaching out to the community in other ways for years. At Saturday’s event, church member Sam Griner (pictured below) and his sons manned a clothing booth that featured clothes donated by the congregation of Grace Tabernacle. The church has collected clothes for needy families for over a year, and is looking for donations of hangers and additional clothing.
Grace Tabernacle also runs a food pantry wherein they collect large donations of food from Second Harvest and the USDA for distribution on a weekly basis to dozens of families. This past month, the church distributed over 6,500 pounds of food to nearly over 50 families. Pantry leaders Steve and Cathy Brunner collect thousands of pounds of food every week to distribute to the families in need. “We’re just vessels to fill their stomachs and hearts” said Steve of his time at the helm of the pantry.
If you would like to donate clothing, food, or any other items to Grace Tabernacle to benefit the community, try visiting them online at www.GraceTab.org or call (352) 748-3255.
