YORK CITY, Pa. (WHP) — Lifepath Christian Ministries started preparing to serve their local community for Christmas days in advance. After having cooked 13 turkeys a night, the shelter hopes to feed 1,000 neighbors in need.
Volunteers darted across the room with plates featuring the holiday menu, including classics like mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and a Maryland-style crab cake.
“I feel like it’s a good opportunity to volunteer and support,” said Joel Patterson, a volunteer serving plates with his wife and kids. ” [It’s] an important lesson for our kids, it’s an opportunity to be of service to somebody else .”
Kevin Scritchfield, director of Food Services explained his gratitude for the program and the work done in advance.
“We have a whole weeks worth of turkeys that we cooked, and we’ve been working diligently for the past eight, nine days for this event,” said Scritchfield.
Lifepath Ministries has seen a 50 percent increase in the use of its night shelters compared to last year.
“As a group, probably 80 to 100 people in just a half an hour,” said Patterson accompanied by his wife, Tricia. “Today is special because the volunteers were like, you actually get to sit down and we serve you today,” she said.
The Ministries will continue to serve the community all day Christmas up until 1:30p.m.