By Thea Jarvis

Thanksgiving morning will dawn a little brighter this year for some 30 families in downtown Atlanta given holiday help by parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes Church

Food baskets, prepared in conjunction with the church’s Food for the Neighborhood program, brought turkeys, canned goods and some fresh produce to homes whose Thanksgiving tables might otherwise have been bare.

“This year St. Pius X High School donated canned goods and money for fresh fruit and vegetables,” said Sister Linda Maser, CSJ, pastoral associate at Our Lady of Lourdes who coordinates the program. “St. Theresa’s Circle at Christ the King is also helping.”

Recipients of the holiday packages included Lourdes parishioners, but most people were living in the vicinity of the church who needed assistance in making ends meet. Some had called the parish requesting help while others were referred by sensitive parishioners attuned to neighborhood need.

The Food for the Neighborhood program was begun last Thanksgiving through a financial contribution by an anonymous donor. It gradually grew into a year-round effort that is a parish expression of deep concern for their community, according to Sister Linda.

“The food is usually distributed on the third Sunday of every month,” she explained. “We always ask at church if anyone would like to help. About 10 parishioners deliver the food each month and for the holiday we can extend the program to more families because of the outside donations.”

For this Thanksgiving--and most third Sundays--Our Lady of Lourdes Parishioner Freda Lipscomb fills her van with groceries for those on the church’s Food for the Neighborhood list.

“I just put some extra gas in my car and start delivering,” she said with enthusiasm. “If I can help somebody, I enjoy it.”

Ms. Lipscomb’s deliveries are made to a number of senior citizens, including an elderly lady who is deaf and suffers with cataracts, Another delivery stop resulted from a chance meeting in the local post office.

“This lady looked so weary that I said, “Ma’am, do you need a ride?” On the way home she asked if we could stop at the store--she had had no bread in the house for four days,” Ms. Lipscomb related.

Eddie Anderson, Our Lady of Lourdes’’ hard-working parish council chairman, joins Freda Lipscomb and the other volunteers each month to deliver food. This Thanksgiving, he is pleased to be a part of the neighborhood outreach, and cited the proliferation of public housing projects as the main reason for the enormous need he finds in his community.

“We are just a small parish close to Grady Homes, Capitol Homes, East Lake Apartments, Bedford Pine,” he reflected just before the Thanksgiving holidays. “Of those we help, 97 percent are what we might call down and out. About three percent are just down--a husband laid off, an illness in the family--just temporary. When they get straightened out, they tell us.”

During his many years in Atlanta, Anderson has seen “people day in and day out in need.” He has experienced first hand “people right here in Atlanta starving--pregnant mothers, children without proper nourishment” and feels he wants to help.

Anderson is employed by the U.S. Postal Service and has brought his crusade against hunger to his fellow employees.

“I get people on the job to help,” he said. “Some of the mailmen bring in canned goods and money to buy fresh meat and produce for the food of the Neighborhood program.”

The Lourdes’ effort is a simple neighborhood outreach that works. It obviously does not feed all the hungry in the city of Atlanta, but aims “to try to assist, especially now, people who are having a hard time,” according to Sister Linda Maser.

“The cost of food keeps going up. We try to supplement with food so people, especially those on fixed incomes, can pay their other bills.”

How has the program been received by the community? Sister Linda claims that “people are very glad” to receive the church’s offering.

“We see a lot more people coming to request help now because of cutbacks in government programs,” she observed, emphasizing the increasing need for the service.

Those at Our Lady of Lourdes Church who work with the Food for the Neighborhood program happily welcome outside support from other members of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, whether it be in the form of food supplies, financial aid or time spent sorting food.

Theirs is truly a grassroots thrust that gives all who participate the unique opportunity to reach out to those in need and make the spirit of Thanksgiving last all year long.