CINCINNATI — Shoppers strolled through fully-stocked aisles lining the basement of Westwood Presbyterian for all their Thanksgiving favorites. Green beans, yams, sugar and even coffee were up for grabs while hundreds of turkeys and hams waited in their coolers just outside, all for a small price: $10.
After a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic, City Gospel Mission hosted its fifth annual Thanksgiving exchange, providing 456 families with an affordable holiday shopping experience, ensuring they don’t need to sacrifice to put a feast on the table.
The tradition began in 2015 when the faith-based Cincinnati nonprofit shifted its strategy for providing Thanksgiving meals. Instead of packing roughly a thousand pantry boxes to send to families in need, City Gospel Mission wanted to make the experience more personal.
Glenda Byrd, the executive assistant for holiday church partnerships, said the exchange is supposed to feel like a shopping experience. Shoppers, who apply to the program through their churches, fill out forms requesting what they would like to buy from the exchange and then pay a small $10 fee to guarantee their spot and help cover the cost.
“So our shoppers don’t have to decide between having Thanksgiving dinner or the gas and electric,” she said.
Most of the roughly $100 worth of food they receive is donated or purchased through donations, but City Gospel believes that $10 fee, is a priceless way to provide dignity for its shoppers. By paying in, Tim Curtis, City Gospel’s spokesperson, said shoppers get a sense of ownership over what they’re picking up.
“They’re not taking handouts,” he said. “They’re helping us help them.”
Curtis said most of the shoppers at City Gospel’s Thanksgiving exchange don’t regularly rely on food pantries. They might have incomes, but splurging on a large meal might be out of reach, especially with food prices on the rise this year.
At 87 years old, long retired, that’s why Etta Everhart said that’s why she shops with City Gospel Mission.
“I think I’ve been here about three years, four years,” she said.
With children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Everhart still considers it her job to provide and host a good, hardy, Thanksgiving meal, but it can be costly on a fixed income.
“We couldn’t hardly make it I don’t think without it,” she said.
Byrd said providing the years spread came with more challenges than usual.
“This year, because of COVID and different manufacturing distribution kind of difficulties, we were short 280 turkeys,” she said. “We usually have to turn them away, and so an email went out to the community, churches, everything and we just had an overload of turkeys come in.”
Byrd said the week of the exchange, they were back to turning away turkeys, well-stocked for the families in need.
“It was such a blessing to see how the community came together, churches came together,” she said.
Like most of City Gospel’s clients, Everhart said she would likely have been able to scrape together enough funds to serve her family a good Thanksgiving dinner without the nonprofit, but it likely would have come with a few sacrifices.
Everhart said she’s grateful she didn’t have to make the choice.
“This way is easier and it’s better,” she said.