The church, located at 120 Delaware Ave., started a tradition of giving away Thanksgiving meals in 2016 and gave away 200 turkey dinners. Since the initial inception of the giveaway program, each year, the number of meals the church gives away has continued to grow. In 2023, 1, 250 meals were distributed at nine different locations in under one hour by the church.

This year will be no different for the faith-based community.

“This year we will give away 1,500 Thanksgiving meals at 10 locations, starting at 2 p.m. until supplies are exhausted,” said Jessica McKeever, Conduit Ministries operations director.

Meals will be given away at Love Elementary School – 250 meals; Bush Elementary School – 175 meals; Fletcher Elementary School – 175 meals; Persell Middle School – 175 meals; Washington Middle School – 225 meals; Jamestown High School – 175 meals; Town of Ellery Park – 50 meals; Celeron Park – 75 meals; Gerry Free Methodist Church – 50 meals, and The Relief Zone, Frewsburg – 50 meals.

Members of Conduit Ministries, Bemus Point United Methodist Church and other volunteers joined forces to distribute 1250 Thanksgiving meals across Jamestown and some surrounding areas in November 2023. One of the distribution locations was George Washington Middle School, where 175 meals were distributed in under 30 minutes. P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee

McKeever said the giveaway bags will include turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, cranberry sauce, pie, foil and pan. Additionally,. McKeever said those wishing to aid the church that donations are greatly appreciated.

“We are unashamedly committed to both the short and long term health of the greater Chautauqua County community,” said Cameron Lienhart, senior pastor at Conduit Ministries. “We consider it one of our greatest blessings and honor to serve this community and will continue to work towards partnerships that meet the needs of the community. God has blessed us and called us, and we want to be a blessing to others. Anyone in need of a meal can come and get one, no questions asked.”

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the prevailing rates of food insecurities are on the rise. In 2023, 86.5 percent of U.S. households were food secure. The remaining 13.5 % (18 million households) were food insecure. Food-insecure households are considered those that had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. The 2023 prevalence of food insecurity was statistically significantly higher than the 12.8 % recorded in 2022 (17 million households), 10.2 % in 2021 (13.5 million households) and the 10.5% in 2020 (13.8 million households).

Additionally, In 2023, 5.1 % of U.S. households (6.8 million households) had very low food security, not statistically different from the 5.1% (6.8 million households) in 2022, but statistically significantly higher than the 3.8 % (5.1 million households) in 2021 and the 3.9 % (5.1 million households) in 2020. In this more severe range of food insecurity, the food intake of some household members was reduced, and normal eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because of limited resources.

For more information visit conduitministries.com or call 716-294-3180.