Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving at Metropolitan Baptist Church

I've done a lot of volunteer service over my life, but I realized recently that I had never had the Thanksgiving Day soup-kitchen type experience. Knowing that hands-on service is always the most rewarding, I called up a few Churches in Harlem and went over to the first one that said yes, which was Metropolitan Baptist Church on 128th St. It was very cool getting to know the great people over there and seeing how much they do for their Community. Apparently they hold this type of packed dinner every night on weekdays. Anyone interested in donating food or time can call Deacon Hayes at (212) 663-8990. Also a special shout out to City Harvest, which is doing more than its fare share to keep families in Harlem fed. So without further ado, here's Thanksgiving, Harlem style!
Where the magic happens...

and this amazing Vulcan Pizza oven!

I wonder how many Thanksgivings this old gal has seen.
Deacon Hayes rallies the troops with his unfailing humor!

And then we get down to bidness,

Dennis on deserts (the lemon cake isnt in the shot).


Its hard to say exactly how many people filled up on the crazy home cooked goodness, but I'd put it at about 125,

with another dozen or so deliveries!

Quite a fascinating place with great history,


and equally as wonderful people.

2 comments:

uptownflavor said...

Nice. So funny, I'd also finally got a chance to volunteer my time serving the needy this Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Gwin said...

Beautiful photos to go with a beautiful story.