PITTSTON, Pa. — It's time to defrost the turkeys and make sure all the equipment in the kitchen is working properly because soon, volunteers with the First Baptist Church in Pittston will prepare hundreds of Thanksgiving meals.
"Over the next several days now, (we'll) start cooking those turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans. We'll be stuffing cups with cranberry sauce," explained volunteer Ben Tielle.
The annual Thanksgiving meal giveaway is returning to the church next week.
"We've been doing it for 13 years, less the last three years because of COVID. This is really our first year back from COVID," added Tielle.
Volunteers with the church say it's like a part of their holiday season has been missing over the past three years.
"It's a long time, and now we all are just happy to do what we can do for the community," said Sharleen Watson of Wilkes-Barre.
"We know that there's a lot of people out there in need. We know there's a lot of people that depend on this dinner, and it went away. It broke our hearts that we couldn't do it," said Tielle.
Before the pandemic, this preparation would be for delivery and sit-down meals inside the church, but because of some lingering COVID concerns, volunteers will only make takeout meals available for pick up at the church on Tuesday, November 21, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
"This is all for the community, anybody in the community who is in need, anybody that's going to be alone for the holidays, or anybody that just simply wants a nice Thanksgiving meal," said Tielle.
If you'd like to pick up a meal, call the church at 570-654-0283 and leave a message on its answering machine with your phone number, name, and how many dinners you would like to order for free.
The last day to put in an order is Saturday.