SJ church ensuring families in need have Thanksgiving meals
PITMAN, N.J. (CBS) -- A South Jersey church is ensuring hundreds of families in need will have a hot meal for the holiday.
The First Baptist Church of Pitman is preparing its largest meal of the year, and a close-knit group of a dozen volunteers has been cooking since Sunday to feed close to 160 families.
Volunteers stood shoulder-to-shoulder cooking over the hot stove Monday. They're working together in almost an assembly-line manner to make a Thanksgiving dinner for families throughout South Jersey.
"I think there's a lot more food insecurity than most of us know, especially after the pandemic," Pastor Randy Van Osten said, "and now with inflation, I think people were on the border of it and everything kind of pushed them off that cliff to need more help. And I think people are more willing to ask for help."
"I think it's always important to try to give people the best food you can make. I've worked in restaurants for 18 years," Van Osten added. "I think just trying to make sure people get something homemade instead of something from a can is huge. You can always get it from a can yourself, you can put love into it when you make it homemade."
Around 5 p.m., the church will start passing out the meals. The idea is people can take home a complete meal to reheat on Thanksgiving.