For two decades now, the House of Prayer Church in Blairsville has led one of the community’s most heartfelt holiday traditions – the annual Thanksgiving Blessings Dinner, an outreach effort providing free, home-cooked meals to families across Union County.
Mike Osborn, church trustee and Thanksgiving Blessings Dinner facilitator, said, “There’s been an increased need, and we’ve tried to respond to that – each year it’s grown.”
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This year, organizers expect to prepare 1,400 meals, matching last year’s total. While the number may sound staggering, every plate is promised a home. Preparations for the meal begin early each year with a debriefing in January, and organizers meeting regularly from mid-August on.
Nine local churches and more than 130 volunteers are involved, cooking, packing, and delivering hundreds of meals during Thanksgiving week.
The House of Prayer’s kitchen becomes a bustling command center, with volunteers working in shifts. By Wednesday evening, all meals are boxed, labeled, and stored in coolers, ready for delivery and pick-up the following day.
The menu is classic comfort: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato soufflé, green beans, and pumpkin pie, all made from scratch.
“Everything is homemade,” Osborn said. “No boxed mashed potatoes.”
Walmart donates turkeys, Foodland provides the hams, and a community donor supplied 150 dozen eggs this year.
Of the 1,400 meals, about 600 will be delivered directly to homes by volunteer drivers, while 700 will be available for pick-up at satellite churches including Harmony Grove Baptist, Choestoe Baptist, Antioch, Fellowship of the Hills, and Vertical Church. Another 100 meals will be served in person at the Family Life Center at the House of Prayer.
While feeding families is the immediate goal, the mission goes far deeper.
“It’s also an evangelistic effort,” Osborn explained. “It’s not just dropping off a meal. We provide Bibles, we pray with people. We try to meet people where they’re at, build a relationship, refer them to a local church.”
The ministry has also expanded its reach to include more children and families in need.
“We work with Family Connections, police and fire departments, and local schools to try to identify those families where children may not have access to a Thanksgiving meal,” Osborn said.
Over the years, the Thanksgiving Blessings Dinner has grown from a few dozen meals to a community-wide mission serving well over a thousand. The heart of the effort remains the same – to make sure everyone feels cared for and seen on Thanksgiving Day.
Now, however, organizers face a challenge that reflects their own success. The church’s facilities, including its kitchen, storage, and volunteer capacity, are fully maxed out at 1,400 meals.
Leaders have long hoped to find another church with the space, commercial kitchen, and refrigeration needed to host a second Thanksgiving dinner in the region, particularly in Towns County. So far, none have been able to take on the scale of such an operation, but the goal remains to expand the reach of this ministry in the years ahead.
House of Prayer has offered to assist any interested congregation with logistics and planning to establish similar efforts elsewhere, believing the growing need across the mountains could be met through partnerships and shared resources.
While the Thanksgiving Blessings Dinner is a massive undertaking, every bit of effort is met with gratitude – from the volunteers who show up year after year to the families who receive a warm meal and a reminder that they’re not forgotten.
The need in the community continues to grow, but so does the spirit of giving that makes this event possible. As Osborn and the many helping hands behind the scenes know well, when neighbors care for neighbors, everyone finds something to be thankful for.
The final day to reserve a meal or sign up as a volunteer is Friday, Nov. 21, by 5 p.m. Call House of Prayer Church at 706-745-5925 for more information or to get involved.
