On Wednesday, the Living Hope Lighthouse Church in Palmerton held its fifth annual community Thanksgiving dinner.

Due to COVID-19, the event took place in the form of a curbside pickup rather than the usual sit-down dinners inside the church.

The church accepted phone calls placing curbside orders from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. and the curbside pickup took place from 5-8 p.m. Personal deliveries were also available after 8 p.m. for those unable to attend by car.

Orders were for either single or family-sized to-go containers, and the food included various Thanksgiving favorites including turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, peas, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie and pumpkin roll.

The food at the event was all made available through the help of food and monetary donations from local businesses in the area. Chris Anthony of Country Harvest donated 30 turkeys, Chip Solt of Joey B’s donated 100 pounds of potatoes, Sheila Reiss of Beer Zone & Eatery donated 150 to-go containers, and Country Inn & Suites Lehighton made monetary donations to help cover additional costs.

Roughly 400 meals were distributed overall, making it a successful event.

Palmerton area residents Wayne Smith and his friend Charles Cseh, attended. Smith said this was his fourth time attending, while Cseh said this was his second time.

Smith said he enjoyed going to the event and that the church was really “helping out the neighborhood.”

Cseh said he also liked coming to the event because of the “good food and the nice people.”

They said they enjoyed being able to sit down and eat rather than receive curbside pickup since the inside of the church was warmer and it allowed for a more social setting. However, both said they would attend next year if the event was held again, regardless of the format.

Organizer Michael Balch came up with the idea for the Thanksgiving dinner five years ago. Being from Palmerton, his main goal was to promote community togetherness in the Palmerton area.

Balch said in his original Facebook post promoting the event that it was for anyone in the community in need of a Thanksgiving meal regardless of their financial situations.

“I didn’t wanna single out needy people, so my post was for those who don’t have a family, if you’re needy, if you have money and you just don’t have anywhere to eat Thanksgiving, come have it with us.”

Balch made sure to credit all of the community members who contributed and worked hard to make his idea a reality ever since.

“All I had was an idea. I only deserve credit for having an idea. Chris Anthony deserves credit for making the turkeys and the hams happen, Chip from Joey B’s deserves the credit for the mashed potatoes, and all the people who are here deserve all the credit for making this happen.

“I’m just one dude with an idea.”

Balch also thanked the church members and members of Honest Trav’s Virtual Dive Bar for helping to prepare the dinners at the church.

He ended by expressing his well wishes toward the community members for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

“I want everybody to be happy and I want everybody to eat. There should be no reason anybody goes hungry tomorrow.”

The Living Hope Lighthouse Church also plans to host a Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m. Dec. 24. For more information about future community events or updates regarding the church, visit www.lhlchurch.com or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lhlchurch.