This Thanksgiving, the Glen Rock community will serve the battered women and children from the Center for Hope and Safety (formally known as Shelter our Sisters) in its annual Thanksgiving feast. The event will take place on Thanksgiving Day at the community church in Glen Rock, which donates the use of its facility every year.

The Interact Club, which organizes most of the dinner, will be joined by other students, teachers, sports teams, religious and service organizations, and many Glen Rock citizens. They urge everyone to help in any way they can.

The adviser of the high school Interact Club, Ms. Debra Brolsma asks the community for assistance.

“We need food items such as turkeys and hams, as well as desserts (pies, cookies, brownies), kitchen supplies (including aluminum foil, paper towels, large Ziploc bags, and cans of sterno), toys for all age groups, and toiletries for women’s gifts,” she said. “A small monetary donation can be made to the Interact Club to help defray our operating costs.”

Food and donations that are going to be given out at the event were collected last weekend, Nov. 14 and 15, by members of the Interact club outside of Kilroy’s. More supplies will continue to be collected this month as the club hopes to give as much as they can. More people can volunteer to help with the decorating of the church and helping out at the dinner itself.

Contributors to the dinner include the high school football team, which will go to the church in the morning to peel and make mashed potatoes, the elementary students who will make placemats, Girl Scout troops that will make cookies, eighth graders from the Academy of Our Lady who will bake apple pies, and Glen Rock High School alumni who come to help out every year. High school teachers donate supplies as departments annually.

Brolsma said that the dinner represents more than just a good meal for those who benefit from it.

“There is the positive impact for the women and children who attend the dinner, but it also has a great impact on all who help by giving of their time to help the less fortunate,” Brolsma said. “This really becomes an entire community project, with lots of people getting involved!”