Thanksgiving meal services available for those in need

CLOVIS — With the holidays approaching and new health and safety guidelines limiting gatherings and businesses, those in need may be wondering how they will access local food drives and meals often offered during Thanksgiving. Non-profits, volunteers, and local health services have worked together to make sure this year is no different for supplying food to those who cannot afford it or cannot go out and get it for themselves.

The Lighthouse Mission in Clovis will be making and delivering meals for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Debbie Montoya, Homeless Shelter Manager and volunteer, said that while they will not be hosting a meal inside their facilities they have a plan to make sure whoever needs a meal will get it.

“The meals will be prepared in a to-go tray,” Montoya said. “People will be lining up in their vehicles and they will arrive to the door, we’ll hand them their meals — however many people are in the car, they say they have an elderly person at home we’re going to give them that meal too — and then they’re going to turn around like in a cul-de-sac and go home. And that’s how we’re going to handle it.”

Montoya mentioned that as far as they know now, Cannon Air Force Base will not be able to volunteer for them as they usually do. In this case, they might need more volunteers. Those volunteers will likely help by delivering meals to those who are not able to drive to the Lighthouse Mission.

“We are going to deliver some (meals), not the 300 to 500 that we normally do but we are going deliver. Matter of fact I only have two on the list as of right now, and all this week I will be getting calls,” Montoya said.

Those who would like to receive a Thanksgiving meal should call the Lighthouse’s office and give Montoya their name, phone number, address, and the number of meals they need for their household.

Another effort is in the works comes from La Casa Family Health Center, in partnership with Central Baptist Church and Mental Health Resources Inc., to supply their local communities with food baskets.

“We partnered in Clovis and Portales with Mental Health Resources and then in Clovis we had a bunch of sponsorships from local organizations such as Central Baptist Church, the Curry County Health Council, and Presbyterian to help us be able to give away 300 Thanksgiving food baskets, ” said Jasmine Johnson, Marketing Director at La Casa. “We also worked with the local S&S Supermarket to provide the items in the baskets. They did really well and provided turkey, canned green beans, cranberry sauce, candied yams, five-pound bags of potatoes, and things like that will be in the baskets.”

Distribution of the 300 baskets in Clovis will take place 4 p.m. Friday at Central Baptist Church. Officials at Central Baptist said that people will be able to tell where to pick up their food as they drive up to the Norris Street church’s no-contact drive-through. People picking up boxes will be instructed to open their trunks at the beginning of the line and continue driving through the parking lot with them open. Food will then be placed in the trunks as they go.

In Portales, about 80 to 90 baskets will be distributed from the La Casa Family Health Center in Portales 4 p.m. Monday.

Both Clovis and Portales distribution sites will be on first-come, first-served basis.