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Serving a need

Area agencies prepared for Thanksgiving

Submitted Photo Shown are Pastors Erika and Rafael Lopez, standing, at a Thanksgiving dinner they put on at the Steger Building in Dunkirk. The Outpour Project and Chautauqua County Rural Ministries are both preparing to hand out a number of meals to those who need them.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, local food pantries such as Chautauqua County Rural Ministries and the Outpour Project are preparing to serve dinners for local residents in need.

The Outpour Project will be handing out meals this Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. at the Outpour Project building at 61 E. Fourth St. in Dunkirk, in a drive-through style behind the building. Full meals will include mashed potatoes, a vegetable, stuffing, turkey, a roll, and some kind of dessert, like a bag of candy or slice of pie. Pastor Erika Lopez at the Outpour Project said there will be plenty to be handed out.

“We plan on making 1,000 meals,” Lopez said. “We want to make sure everyone enjoys a hearty Thanksgiving meal.”

Lopez said that local restaurant Arly and Izzy’s restaurant will be helping prepare the meals, as the Outpour Project doesn’t have its own kitchen available. Lopez said they’re preparing 60 turkeys at the restaurant.

“We’ve been getting many calls of people who haven’t been able to purchase turkeys,” said Lopez. “The community has come together, we’ve had donations from all over, plus we were saving up money for this all year. We’re going to be giving out a lot of food in the community.”

Similarly, Chautauqua County Rural Ministry has received a fair number of applications. Executive Director Kathleen Peterson said there are somewhere between 90 and 100 applications so far, which is an increase from last year but down from years prior. Peterson said there doesn’t seem to be a consistent measure of how many people will need donations.

“It wasn’t what we were expecting,” Peterson said. “We had half as many applicants but more people came to the soup kitchen. It doesn’t seem like there’s any rhyme or reason, when the pantry is low, the kitchen is high and vice versa.”

Peterson said that Rural Ministries has plenty of turkey available but as of now, is still short on various canned goods like gravy and sweet potatoes, though that is not abnormal for Thanksgiving either.

“We have a volunteer group that’s coming to pack bags over this weekend,” Peterson said. “We’re hoping to be able to get more stuff then. I’m thinking people will start bringing stuff in soon.”

Rural Ministries will be serving their traditional Thanksgiving meals on Thanksgiving Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., which is open to the public to anyone who would like a meal. On Monday and Tuesday afternoon, the agency will be handing out Thanksgiving baskets to families who signed up for the donation.

Even though Thanksgiving has yet to pass, both Rural Ministries and the Outpour Project are already looking ahead to Christmas. Lopez said that those in need of gifts for their children can reach out to them via email at outpourproject@gmail.com or on Facebook at The Outpour Project, where all information about the Outpour Project can be found.

Likewise, Rural Ministries will be accepting applications for Christmas gifts on Dec. 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9 from noon to 3 p.m. at 319 Washington Ave. They ask applicants to bring proof of residence, an income statement, and their Social Security card, though they don’t take copies of Social Security cards and only record the last four digits.

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