Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A regional program will help residents in Prince Edward County take care of Thanksgiving dinner. Anyone who lives within 30 miles of Food Lion in Farmville qualifies to sign up for the “Feeding Farmville” (FF) plan. The goal, FF officials say, is to help locals “grow closer to God through an experience with his unconditional love.”

Feeding Farmville will deliver the meals on Thanksgiving. The seasonally festive meal includes turkey breast, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberries, a fresh roll, and pumpkin pie. You can order meals at feedingfarmville.org or by calling (434) 408-1571.  You need to provide your name, phone number, address and the number of meals you need.

Feed Farmville is a volunteer network of community organizations and individuals that began in 2016 as a challenge set by St. John’s Lutheran Church Pastor Matt Sorenson to his congregation to feed 500 people for the Thanksgiving season. Sorenson said he and his family participated in a similar program during their time living in Niagara Falls and wanted to bring that experience to the Farmville area. 

“It may seem like the great meal is the best way to experience God’s love in this project but I would suggest that the meal is just the tip of the iceberg” said Sorenson. “I experience God’s love in the faces of the volunteers who sacrifice so much to help their neighbors.  I experience God’s love when the drivers take time to get to know the people on their list so they can pray with them or even come back to visit them again.  I experience God’s love as He provides everything we need to serve 1,000 people year after year.”

Feeding Farmville plans to help thousands

“At our first meeting one of the ladies said, ‘Pastor, have you seen our church?  We can’t feed 500 people,” Sorenson said. “We don’t have enough people.’ I told the group that I know we don’t have enough.  But God does. I want to see God working through you to raise up enough volunteers to feed 500 people.” 

In the initiative’s inaugural year, Feeding Farmville succeeded in delivering a Thanksgiving meal to 500 residents in the region. St. John’s Lutheran worked alongside six different businesses, a handful of non-profit organizations, 12 churches, and hundreds of people to make it happen. 

The program grew to serve 750 meals and then last year, Feeding Farmville increased the number of community members it serves Thanksgiving to a thousand. Sorenson said this Thanksgiving season, around 30 local businesses are sharing their time and resources with Feed Farmville, alongside 16 non-profits, and 13 churches to go with hundreds of community volunteers carrying out the initiative’s efforts.  

Through the work of hundreds of volunteers, every year, Feeding Farmville plans and organizes getting the food and materials for the Thanksgiving meals, prepares and packages the meals, then delivers the meals throughout the community.”