LITTLE ROCK, Ark — The feeling of gratitude spread all across the room on Tuesday afternoon at the Saint Mark Baptist Church in Little Rock where dozens of volunteers came out to tend to those with empty stomachs and wandering hearts.
"It's a way of giving back. It allowed them the opportunity to be a part of the Thanksgiving season. To be a blessing to them and provide them with the things they are in need of," Glenn Hersey, the Outreach Pastor at Saint Mark Baptist Church said.
Hersey said that their church has been keeping traditions alive by bringing back their annual Thanksgiving feast after being shut down for about three years because of the pandemic.
"It's been an awesome day to bring a guest from out of town and come in so we can be a blessing to them because it's a one-stop shop full of goods. We provide a nurse's station, attorneys, clothes, hygiene products, and more," Hersey explained.
The Feast of Hope served more than 200 meals, 220 hygiene kits, and 120 snack bags with 50 volunteers who were all grateful to be lending out a helping hand.
"They have needs for hygiene, they have needs to look good, so they have the haircuts here, then they are trying to clean up their background with legal purposes so it's always good to try to reach the whole person not just reaching the stomach, and then send them on their way. because the people have other needs," Patricia Person said.
Along with the other amenities, there were blood pressure and blood sugar checks and on-site legal assistance. However, the biggest takeaway above everything else was thankfulness— the gift that keeps on giving.
"We are so happy that the external community comes to our church because they know that there is a need and a lot of times people don't realize so much is out there that is available to them," Person said.
People with the church explained that the focus of the event was to focus on those who are unsheltered.
"I feel that there's a need for the homeless community and when I joined a church here about 11 years ago, I always wanted to be part of this ministry and I'm so happy since COVID, we are coming back here again, to be a part of open face to face in this ministry," Person said.