Rapid City church hands out free meals before Thanksgiving

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Not everyone has the means to cook a Thanksgiving meal or a family to celebrate with, but Valley Community Church in Rapid City wants to change that.

”We’re doing a drive-thru dinner, this is our third year of doing this. It’s a free dinner, everyone is welcome to it, first come, first serve. We’ve done just about 200 meals an hour this year, this is a record for us,” said Bill Resterer, with the outreach program for Valley Community Church.

Volunteers of all ages joined the meal giveaway Saturday as a way to support their community.

“It feels good to knowing that we’re helping our community and helping those who either don’t have a family or aren’t able to have a family to celebrate Thanksgiving with or anything. It feels really good to be able to help the community,” said Norma Murphy, a volunteer at the church.

The meals included ham, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, and a cobbler dessert.

“It makes me feel like, it makes my day because we’re making other people’s day and it just makes my day to see that I’m putting smiles on people’s faces,” said Samantha Farenholz, a volunteer helping out with the drive-thru.

The church handed out all the meals within an hour of them opening the event.

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