A community unites for Thanksgiving
On Nov. 19 the community of Rosebud came together for a successful communitywide Thanksgiving dinner at the Rosebud community center. Eight of the local churches united and worked together for this evening of singing, fellowship, and an old-fashioned meal of turkey, dressing and all the fixings.
The success of this is due in part to the collaborative effort of a newly formed group of five to six local ministers called the “ministerial alliance”. They have been meeting monthly for several months. The main goal of the alliance is to come up with a plan to bring our community closer together.
We started meeting last Easter when we gathered during Holy week for a noon meal at First Baptist Church Rosebud. Each day one or two of the local churches provided the meal, one local minister giving a short devotional and another church some special music. Everyone seemed to enjoy the time of community fellowship, food, music and prayer. So, we looked for another opportunity to unite.
It has been the practice that each year on the day before school starts that First Baptist Church Rosebud and First Baptist Church Lott unite. They pool their efforts to provide a catered meal of appreciation for the teachers, administrators and all the employees of Rosebud-Lott ISD.
It was during this meal that some of the administrators expressed a concern they had for their elementary students. Some parents were having difficulty providing the basic school supplies needed for the school year. This was especially overwhelming if they had several children in elementary school.
This burden was immediately presented to the ministerial alliance group. We immediately began working together to unite our community through a fundraising effort to fund the school supplies for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade at Rosebud-Lott ISD. The idea of a community-wide Thanksgiving dinner was our way to bring the community together and begin fundraising for the school supplies.
We realized that we needed to involve the ladies from our prospective churches to help with the menu, room set up and clean up. They performed a miracle that day and the day ran smoothly and efficiently. They were asked to prepare enough turkey, ham, dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, coleslaw, dinner rolls, and desserts for 150 people. We know that we fed 190 people that day and provided 15-20 “to go” plates too and we still had food leftover to send home with some in great need. First Baptist Church Rosebud and the Methodist Church brought enough tables and chairs to comfortably seat 166 people at the community center. It was a tremendous evening and God really blessed the unity of our community.
Music was proved by several in our community: Joe Williams and his family from First Baptist Church Rosebud, the choir from The Morning Star Baptist Church, another Spanish group who presented their music in Spanish and David Weber with a group from St. Anne’s Catholic Church sang some songs. The ministerial alliance ministers’ who were in attendance had an opportunity to share some of their many blessings.
Coming together as a community and sharing a meal was just part of this gathering. We wanted to raise funds for the school supplies for the children of Rosebud-Lott Elementary. A big stainless-steel pot was placed near the desserts and everyone had an opportunity to make a donation to this effort. Many in attendance that night, several local businesses and churches have verbalized an interest to continue to donate more to the project. If you are interested in donating for this project please contact your local minister or Pastor Terry Williams or Joe Williams at First Baptist Church to have the funds directed to the “ministerial alliance” to help meet this tremendous goal.
It was great to experience “community unity” at the Rosebud community center and a successful community-wide Thanksgiving dinner and fundraiser for our children. Pastors, ministers, churchgoers, non-churchgoers, police chief and his wife, city secretary, and everyone coming together as one family was so special. I heard one comment that “this is what it’s going to be like in heaven: everyone will be together fellowshipping, talking, laughing, singing, and praising The Lord for their many blessings”. Next year we hope to make it even bigger and better.