Supplies are already rolling into the kitchen at Council Road in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of Families Loving Families. In fact, our maintenance men spend all year collecting and storing boxes to house the meals which will be delivered to families in need throughout our community. Even our new members quickly learn that Fellowship Center is THE place to be on Thanksgiving morning. It’s one of the few times our entire church body is together to participate in the ultimate “Loving Our City” event.

Rick Thompson, our Senior Pastor, says, “There are few things we can do as a church family, that are closer to the heart of Christ, than to reach out to families on the margins of society and give them something to eat and drink and to tell them Jesus loves them. This is an important and easy way to do that.”

Carolyn Bailor, a charter member of CRBC who now lives in Australia, fondly remembers the first Families Loving Families. She says Kent Barnes was chairman of the Missions Committee and was the driving force behind getting it started. It was funded by a single person who insisted on remaining anonymous. Those first few years, the committee requested a complete meal so there would be enough food for leftovers, meaning that they wanted whole turkeys delivered, along with whole pumpkin pies, cool whip, packages of rolls, dressing, gravy and all the trimmings. The logistics of the meal took weeks of preparation and organization. Another long-time member, Ruth Ann Cahill, was in charge of getting names and info of those receiving food. She got lots of names from school counselors.

Carolyn cooked in every kitchen in the church building, including the Daycare, Children’s Building and the old print shop (or Gold Room for those of you who have been here long enough to remember). Her greatest fear was making the morning news that CRBC had subjected hundreds of people to food poisoning because so many different areas were used in food preparation. It was tricky getting everything purchased, stored, cooked, served hot and delivered safely. She was sorry to have to turn down a request for a homemade chocolate cake from one of the families receiving a meal.

She remembers one year when Donna Shofner, another CRBC charter member, precooked turkey breasts and stored them in the daycare fridge for the next day. She and Carolyn arrived at 4 a.m. the next morning to find the refrigerator door popped open and the contents warm. All of the turkey had to be thrown away. She sent her husband to all of the local stores to buy every fresh turkey he could find, and then she started cooking. Some of the people that year received boiled turkey, but it was the best they could do considering the circumstances! Carolyn says she’s pretty sure that was her last year to cook for the event.

During the years that she cooked, she always thought of the Bible story of the “Feeding of the 5000.” With all of the volunteers cooking, dishing up food and more names being added at the last minute, they somehow always had enough food for everyone. She says it wasn’t because of her faith, because inwardly she was stressing over it every minute! But God always blessed her efforts.

The work did not end with the meal delivery, as many acts of Christ occurred during and after the deliveries. Furniture was delivered, home repairs done, clothing provided and counseling and prayers given. Of all the things Carolyn ever did at CRBC, she says this one act of service was one of the most important. She says she would have to lay flat on the floor afterward, but was always glad for what everyone had accomplished.

In thinking back to the first few years, Donna Shofner says she remembers preparing 469 meals, as compared to 2,000 now. She, like Carolyn, says back then it was a wonderful event, but they had lots to learn! They always ran out of supplies, but somehow managed to find more. They always use the previous year’s numbers to figure out and plan for the next year.

CRBC’s current Food Service Director, Susan Roberts, now places the food order. Donna says it’s not hard now that Susan has everything pre-ordered and ready to go. Everyone has their place in the kitchen and knows what to do. And it helps to have lots of men in the kitchen to lift the great big pots and carry boiling water. Don and Sandy Beverly help every year, and it’s their job to recruit the men. “It’s a wonderful operation and one great big miracle,” Donna says. “We start cooking at 6 a.m. that morning, with a goal of enough food prepared to feed 1,000 people by 7 a.m. This requires around 25 volunteers in the small church kitchen. We usually finish by 11:30 or noon.”

Asked if she then goes home and cooks a Thanksgiving meal for her own family, she plainly answers, “No. One of my kids cooks, and I go there.”

Her favorite thing about the whole event is simply witnessing how big God is every year. She says that given the facilities they use, it’s a miracle they pull it off. Another thing she notes is that the weather has always been cooperative every year. “It’s scary to think of all the money tied up in the food if we were unable to deliver it. It’s been cold in years past, but the roads are always good.”

She says sometimes the people scheduled to receive a meal aren’t home, and in that case, their next door neighbor receives the blessing. She remembers one year someone wasn’t home, so the people delivering the food instead got to bless a 7-11 employee who was on duty that morning.

Last year, a group of our high school girls decided to spend the night at Catherine Harris’ house before coming up on Wednesday to assemble all of the food boxes. They had a “party before the party.” It was a great activity for this community group of girls. They would like to challenge all CRBC community and connection groups to make Families Loving Families an annual group activity.

Usually, people choose to either box the food or deliver the food. Norman Behymer, CRBC’s Executive Pastor, has made it known that he likes to be first on the list every year to make a delivery. Since there is no pre-registration to sign up for deliveries, he gets up really early to come to Fellowship Hall in order to be the first one in line. Well, one year, our Community Outreach Coordinator, Beth Dempsey, beat him to the punch and got the number one slot. Norman will never get over the fact that he was number two that year. All part of the fun, and all of this to say – don’t miss out on one of the biggest blessings all year at CRBC. People can’t help but arrive with huge smiles and hugs for friends at this event.

If you would like to participate in this year’s Families Loving Families, please e-mail Dann Ragan at ragan@councilroad.org. Or just come to Fellowship Center at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.