CLEVELAND — Sister Corita Ambro has been a member of St. Augustine Church in Cleveland for more than 51 years.

She helped launch The St. Augustine Hunger Center nearly 45 years ago and now, in her retired years, she volunteers.

“God's children have to be taken care of no matter who they are or where they are. They need to eat. They need their food to keep healthy, and how can we keep them from the COVID if they're not getting their meals and they're not staying healthy, they need food like everybody else,” said Sister Corita.

With record unemployment this year, some need charitable food for the first time. Sister Corita said the Hunger Center is working to pack around 15,000 meals this year, about 5,000 less than last Thanksgiving, but that’s not because people aren’t hungry.

“Usually, at Thanksgiving, we do about 19 to 20,000. So it's down because of the COVID and people don't want to serve at their places,” Sister Corita said. “We've had at least three or four churches cancel on us because of the COVID. And that’s something that bothers me because I don't know how those seniors and those homeless people and the poor are going to get meals with the places that have canceled out because of the COVID.”

With many churches and hunger centers cancelling in-person meals, St. Augustine has moved to delivering, said Father Joseph McNulty.

“They're our brothers and sisters,” he said. “So we serve them in any way that we can. And it's an honor to be able to do that. We've been doing that here at St. Augustine's for about 48 years. So we were just trying to adjust to the different situations today.”

Some people will still be able to eat at the Hunger Center in-person on Thanksgiving, but only those with nowhere else to go. It’s something local man, Robert, said he’s thankful for.

“I've been coming here off and on, you know, and they do a good job over here. And I appreciate that Sister Corita has come a long way for helping people and their needs. And it’s a blessing that she helps a lot of people,” said Robert, who lives in the Cleveland area.

Serving 15,000 meals, provided by about 1,000 volunteers, like Nereida Colon.

“I feel for them, you know, it's like, they're like a family to me, you know, and I hate to see them going hungry,” said Colon.

And other volunteers, like Deb Durma.

“We're having turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing gravy, green beans, yams with marshmallows and Brown sugar salad. Pie, cranberry sauce, juice, roll and butter too,” said Durma.

Sister Corita said while people can’t physically be together this Thanksgiving, they can be together with their hearts. These volunteers are recommitting their energies to giving thanks and just giving.

“We want everybody to get their meal on Thanksgiving,” Sister Corita said. “They're important to us. Each person is important and I don't want them to go without a meal on Thanksgiving or any day of the week. That's why I said, that's why we're open seven days a week so that people can eat at least one meal a day.”

The Hunger Center always welcomes food donations and volunteers. More information may be found on the St. Augustine website.