More than 300 meals served
The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission hosts its annual Thanksgiving Feast on Wednesday.
The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission held its annual Thanksgiving Feast on Wednesday afternoon.
The mission and a long list of volunteers from the community served more than 300 meals to men, women and children in need. The mission’s main dining hall was the center of this festive celebration.
“This was the first return to being able to involve volunteers at close degrees. Through COVID, we had some kind of Thanksgiving meal but with safety restrictions in place,” Rolf Geyling, president of the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, told the News-Press.
“With limited contact, it was challenging and sad,” Mr. Geyling said. “We are learning how to operate post-pandemic, and we have gotten pretty good. It feels good.
“A big part of our historic work is caring for people. People who are compassionate in the community come to serve our guests,” he said. “We long to do a lot more and make the holiday special by providing human contact.”
The Thanksgiving dinner included turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings. The volunteers served the guests restaurant-style while waiting on them, taking their orders and busing tables.
“There’s a lot of love in the room, people come in, and nobody is where they want to be on Thanksgiving. No one wants to come into a shelter to eat,” Mr. Reyling said. “But there is the care of an excellent meal provided by donors and lovingly cooked and served by volunteers. We set up round tables, and guests are served restaurant style as opposed to buffet style.
“Guests can have about as much as they want of anything and can sit as long as they want,” said Mr. Reyling.
Santa Barbara Rescue Mission has hosted the Thanksgiving Feast for more than 50 years.
“I think it was definitely because we were wanting to care for people in challenging circumstances,” he said. “Being homeless is always difficult, but obviously can be more emotional around the holidays as people gather with families, and our neighbors without homes are missing out.
“People in the community wanted to make sure that during the holidays they felt love and human contact,” Mr. Reyling said. “One of the things was realizing that we are trying to move people out of homelessness and addiction, and you do that by building relationships.
“We are extremely grateful for the community’s concern that allows us to do events like this and especially during the holiday those that make the homeless part of their holiday celebration,” he said. “That is so significant, but we love having help every other day of the year (as well).”
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
