Love Feast ready to serve 3,000
♦ The annual community meal includes a chance to pick up some warm clothes.
For the 31st year in a row, the Thanksgiving Love Feast, which was thought up by a pastor’s daughter, plans to feed more than 3,000 families this Thanksgiving.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Cherish Owens, who was just 10 years old when her parents, Silvia Shields and the Rev. Terrell Shields, began organizing the Love Feast. She is now 41 years old.
“Just knowing that you’re able to help somebody is even more of a better feeling,” she said. “Everyone isn’t fortunate. All you can do is lend out the hand that you’ve been dealt and go from there.”
The Love Feast is a free community Thanksgiving meal at the Rome Civic Center on Jackson Hill. It runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Volunteers got started preparing Wednesday and collected dropped-off donations from 6 to 8 p.m. The donations included warm winter clothes and holiday desserts. Terrell Shields said they expect to serve over 3,000 people this year.
The origin of the feast, and all the years of hard work put into it, began when Owens’ little sister, Terrica Shields, was just 4 years old.
That’s when Terrica realized for the first time there were people who weren’t able to eat on Thanksgiving. Her family decided to do something about it and the community project was born.
In the beginning, Terrell Shields said they fed close to 900 people. Last year, they fed close to 3,000 people — and they expect to see an increase this year. He attributes the growth in attendance over the last three decades to the loss of jobs in Rome and a growing population.
“The economy plays a great role in it, and the closure of some good jobs in Rome,” Shields said. “We serve some of the former clients of Northwest Georgia
Regional Hospital.”
The former state run mental hospital closed in June of 2011. About 180 patients were affected by the closure. Plans were announced this year for Hope Village, a community faith-based project to provide assistance to those in need on the former hospital property.
People in need can also speak to volunteers at the Love Feast for emotional support. While it is not classified as counseling, the pastor said he has witnessed the help it can bring to those in pain.
“We had one young lady on the verge of committing suicide, and after seeking support, she didn’t.” Shields said this particular woman now volunteers at the Love Feast every year.