Redwood Gospel Mission, Sonoma County churches step up for Thanksgiving

A steady stream of cars filed into Spring Hills Church on Wednesday for the Redwood Gospel Mission’s food giveaway, a pandemic-altered version of a more than 2-decade-old tradition geared at providing a warm Thanksgiving meal to thousands of needy Sonoma County residents.

Enthusiastic volunteers at the Santa Rosa church greeted each vehicle, directing drivers through a half-mile loop around the church’s property while waiving and holding signs to welcome them.

The drive-thru led to tables and carts filled with donated turkeys and other ingredients needed to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Volunteers stood ready to greet people and load bags of goods into vehicles.

Each volunteer wore a mask and donned blue surgical gloves as they worked the event, which began at 10 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m.

Up to 80 volunteers from the church participated, and donations from a network of several local churches helped provide the ingredients included in the free food boxes, which will feed just over 4,000 people on Thanksgiving Day, said Eric Sangervasi, director of Partner and Community Ministries for Redwood Gospel Mission.

Though Wednesday’s event had a different feel from the nonprofit’s traditional Thanksgiving Banquet, which is typically held at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds for a crowd of about 5,000 people, Sangervasi said much of the energy was the same.

“Gratitude just flows from their faces, both on the giving and receiving end,” Sangervasi said of Wednesday’s drive-thru. “I love it.”

Mireya De La Cruz, a Santa Rosa resident who enrolled in the food distribution program, said the church’s volunteers greeted her with “arms wide open,” something she was grateful for during what’s been a difficult time for her and her family.

De La Cruz participated in the Redwood Gospel Mission’s Thanksgiving dinner last year at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and was contacted by the nonprofit this year to see if she was interested in receiving a food box ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The pandemic has had a ripple effect on her husband’s job as a painter as fewer people are spending money to upgrade their homes, she said. December is a notoriously slow month for people in the industry due to the cold, rainy weather, she added.

“It’s really difficult during these times and we don’t have enough resources,” said De La Cruz, who stays at home caring for the couple’s 3-year-old daughter. “I was lucky that they contacted me again.”

Lisa Dexter and her daughter, Lindsey Dexter, both of Santa Rosa, were among the volunteers who staffed the food pickup stations at the church’s parking lot Wednesday morning.

They commended the collective community effort in organizing and collecting food for the drive-thru event.

“It was just really fun to see all the different families,” Lindsey Dexter said. “Some brought their kids, some brought their pets and it was just really nice to see them smile.”

Jennifer Alvarez, one of the volunteers who helped bag fresh produce Wednesday morning, said she felt even more inclined to volunteer for the Redwood Gospel Mission’s Thanksgiving event than in years past because of the financial hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

She and her family experienced a similar situation in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

“I’ve needed help in the past and it's been there for me,” Alvarez said. “You never know when you’re going to need help.”

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.