Clinton UMC serves more than 300 harvest dinners during annual event

By BRAD HEINEMAN

Clinton Local

As several local churches and organizations start preparing for the upcoming holiday season — and the programming that comes with it — parishioners and volunteers with Clinton United Methodist Church got into the harvest holiday spirit last week.

The church’s annual Harvest Dinner proved to be a growing success for another year as Clinton UMC members planned to cook enough food for 300 meals but easily cleared that threshold with total meal counts climbing into the mid-300s, if not a little higher.

At least 20 harvest dinners (turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry delight and a choice of apple or pumpkin pie) were also delivered to homebound/shut-in community members in the Clinton area.

Since adopting the carryout-only method with drive-thru service because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, church members said the process continues to work for everybody involved.

“We found that we were more successful and didn’t need as many workers,” Clinton UMC member Linda Strickland said. “…This way has worked out really well for us.”

The church’s October Harvest Dinner dates back at least 20 years, if not more, as an annual event. Prior to adopting the carryout/drive-thru method, the meal was held inside the church, 10990 Tecumseh-Clinton Hwy., and included tableside meal service.

Serving hours for the dinner on Thursday, Oct. 16 were from 4 to 6:30 p.m. It was as early as 3:30 p.m., according to some of the church members and volunteers, when vehicles began to pull into the parking lot and lined up along Tecumseh-Clinton Highway.

At least 20 people helped out in some capacity or another to make sure that meal service went on without much of a hitch.

Nearing the conclusion of Thursday’s carryout-only dinner, some food items (like the dessert pies) started to run out. Church volunteers had to improvise a little bit at that point, offering some drive-thru customers lower prices on the meals or suggesting larger portions of food to make up for the missing menu items.

Whatever food wasn’t completely sold out was packaged up and sold to church members during Sunday church services.

“It makes for a nice Sunday meal,” Strickland said. 

With the Harvest Dinner completed for this year’s holiday lineup, Clinton UMC will turn its attention to its annual Holiday Craft Show, cookie walk and luncheon from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1. Then on its holiday schedule is a Dec. 3 women’s Christmas party from 5 to 8 p.m., followed by Christmas wrapping services (by donation) from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both Dec. 17 and 18.

To keep track of these events and others at Clinton United Methodist Church, follow the church’s Facebook page or visit clintonunitedmethodist.org.