Want to support a local interfaith charity near you? Here’s a list of organizations around the U.S. who will be feeding the less fortunate on Turkey Day, pop by to lend a hand or donate today!
- Food drop-offs are welcome at Interfaith Food Ministry from 7:30 to 10 a.m. weekday mornings at the nondenominational group’s facility on 551 Whiting St., Grass Valley, CA 95945. To volunteer or donate, call (530) 273-0154.
- The West Bergen Ministerial Association will sponsor an Interfaith Community Thanksgiving Service at the Van Riper Ellis Broadway Baptist Church on Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. Van Riper-Ellis Broadway Baptist Church is on the corner of Morlot Avenue and River Road in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. All are invited to the service and to the social hour that concludes the pre-Thanksgiving gathering.
- At another New Jersey Interfaith Celebration, the newest rabbi at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun will take to the altar of a Catholic church at the Millburn-Short Hills Clergy Association’s annual Interfaith Thanksgiving service this year. Monsignor George R. Trabold will host the service at St. Rose of Lima Church at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 24. Rabbi Karen Perolman will give the sermon.
- In South Carolina, Anderson Interfaith Ministries will join forces with Good Neighbor Cupboard and New Spring Church this year to distribute as many as 200 Thanksgiving dinners to the area’s poor. The groups will distribute food baskets complete with a Thanksgiving turkey starting at 10 a.m., Saturday at Anderson Interfaith Ministries Food Pantry at 1208 S. Murray St. in Anderson. Distribution will be on a first-come, first-served basis until all of the food baskets are gone. For more information, call Good Neighbor Cupboard at (864) 224-1701, or Anderson Interfaith Ministries at (864) 226-2273.
- Wakefield Massachusetts’ Unitarian Universalist Church will hold its annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. This year’s service is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 326 Main St., MA 01880. All in the community are cordially invited to sing, pray and learn. An interfaith choir with orchestra accompaniment will consist of members from the varying congregations. An offering will be taken and given to the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. This service will follow the interfaith model in which various faith viewpoints are expressed, with the understanding that not everyone will agree with every last word in the service. The service will be to celebrate diversity rather than imposing an artificial homogeneity.
- The Interfaith Network of Central Oregon will present an interfaith Thanksgiving service featuring the Gospel Choir of Central Oregon and local speakers from several faiths Thursday at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. The church is at 680 Bond St., Bend, OR 97103. Contact: 541-382-2407.
- Davidson clergy are making plans for the town’s third annual Community Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, Nov. 21, which brings together people of all faiths and celebrates the contributions of public officials and civil servants. The event is Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. at Gethsemane Baptist Church 565 Jetton St., Davidson, NC 28036. Contact (704) 892-1635
The Rev. Ernest Jeffries of Gethsemane will preach. Gethsemane Baptist’s choir and other area musical groups will provide the music.
- Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Service will be organized by the Coalition of Elgin Religious Leaders (CERL) Sunday evening, November 21, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 37W040 Highland Avenue, Elgin, Illinois 60124. Offerings from the evening benefits several local social service agencies, with financial offerings going to Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) of Elgin, and non-perishable food items to area food pantries. Food contributions will be placed at the altar during the Thanksgiving service. For more information, please call Epworth United Methodist Church at 847-931-5400, or visit the CERL website.
- In Kingston, NY the 13th Annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Community Service will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanuel, 243 Albany Ave. Kingston, NY 12401. For more information, contact Bob Cohen, chairman of the Ulster County Religious Council at (845) 338-6180 or send an e-mail to rcohen4@hvc.rr.com.
- The annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service of Community Ministries of Rockville and Rockville Ministerial Alliance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Rockville United Church, 355 Linthicum St., Rockville, MD 20852. Fellowship and refreshments will follow the service. For more information on Community Ministries of Rockville, call 301-637-0730 .
- In Henrietta, N.Y. this year’s Rush-Henrietta Interfaith Community Thanksgiving Service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 23 at Henrietta United Church of Christ at 1400Lehigh Station Road, Henrietta, NY 14467-9238. There will be prayers, readings and music from Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Native American and Hindu. The church’s handbell choir will also be playing. Both nonperishable food and monetary offerings will be received for the Rush-Henrietta Area Food Terminal. The service is sponsored by the Rush-Henrietta Interfaith League.
- The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service of Carrboro, NC will be providing families with meals as they celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the winter solstice through its holiday meals program.
If your town isn’t here, that doesn’t meet there’s not something going on. Get out and there and help TODAY!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all from World Faith.
