‘Valley Thanksgiving Blessing’ is Saturday

WASILLA — The aromas wafting out the doors of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for the past two weeks are unmistakable.

The 20 community volunteers who baked 6,000 dinner rolls in the “Five Loaves and Two Fish Kitchen” at the church are the reason parts of Wasilla smell like Anchorage’s Sunrise Bakery has opened a shop here.

“It’s been wonderful,” said Linda Myers-Steele who helps manage the kitchen year-round and volunteered to help make thousands of dinner rolls to share with families during the Valley Thanksgiving Blessing Saturday.

The first-of-its-kind community project is a partnership between Good Shepherd Lutheran, Mat-Su Food Bank and about 20 volunteers from around the Valley, Myers-Steele said. The Mat-Su Food Bank paid for the ingredients and the church organized the 60 hours of volunteer labor needed to bake the rolls.

Previously, the rolls were purchased from Costco and donated to the annual Thanksgiving food sharing effort, which served 1,963 people last year.

Food distribution is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 22 at six Valley locations. Distribution sites are organized by Zip code. To participate, neighbors in need must bring proof of residence to the distribution site serving their Zip code on Saturday to receive food. Volunteers will meet them at each church, sign them in, and help them gather all the makings for a feast — customized to their family’s preferences and size.

“They get what they need for their family whether it is two people or eight,” Myers-Steele said.

As each family arrives, they will be offered refreshments, like coffee, tea or cocoa and cookies. To that end, Valley church congregations also are busy making thousands of cookies to share with neighbors on Saturday. The goal is to make everyone feel welcome, she said.

Valley Thanksgiving Blessing organizers say they anticipate a 10 percent increase in demand for 2014.

People are encouraged to take part in the annual Thanksgiving Blessing food distribution on Saturday as the Mat-Su Food Bank will close for Thanksgiving, Nov. 27 and 28 and will reopen Dec. 1.

‘It’s a teaching kitchen’

The colossal roll baking project isn’t the kitchen’s only purpose.

It’s a teaching kitchen, Myers-Steele said.

On Mondays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. the Cooperative Extension teaches free cooking classes there. And during the week, the Mat-Su Borough School District’s Next Step program uses the kitchen to teach students how to work and clean in a commercial kitchen.

The cooking classes focus on cooking simple, healthy foods that can help people take care of themselves in a more economical way, Myers-Steele said.

And on Fridays the kitchen bustles with meals being prepared to share with homeless youth at MY House.

Don Colwell was part of the kitchen construction committee at the church that worked for the past two years to plan, fund and construct the 1,000-square-foot, Department of Environmental Conservation-certified commercial kitchen. He said the effort was funded by a grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation, which required the church to match the cash with labor from its members.

He said the church had a kitchen, but it was small and outdated when members began the community project. The new renovation gutted the old kitchen and transformed a storage room and the old kitchen into the commercial kitchen.

All told, church members donated $60,000 in labor to the project, Myers-Steele said.

It wasn’t just church members and the Valley’s charitable giving foundation that backed the upgrade. Also supporting the project were community partners ADK Plans, Alaska Professional Construction, Alaska Quality Fire Protection, Bear Construction, Browns Electric, Chyko Construction, Custom Mechanical Systems, Enstar Natural Gas Company, Farina’s Restaurant Supply Company, Good Shepherd Pre-School, Mat-Su Borough School District’s Next Step Program, Mat-Su Health Foundation, McMillen Designs, Mike Ott, Northern Electrical Engineering, Rival Glass Co., RK Flooring, Robinson Millworks, Spartan Roofing, Spenard Builders Supply, Spurlock and Associates, Surface Works, Taylor Fire Protection Services, Uresco, Valley Block and Concrete, Vannoy Electric, and Wal-Mart Super Center.

The grant covered the cost of about $90,000 in equipment for the kitchen, including a convection oven that can turn out five trays of dinner rolls in 20 minutes. To furnish small items for the kitchen, Myers-Steele said Good Shepherd had a kitchen shower where members gave another $5,000 in items for the kitchen.

And a grant received from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America covers the cost of the part-time kitchen manager position, which is required to operate the kitchen.

Distribution sites

The Mat-Su faith community, in partnership with the Food Bank of Alaska, started Valley Thanksgiving Blessing in 2010 at three sites. This year the effort has expanded to six sites in the Valley, with a second distribution day also planned in Anchorage.

People with enough to eat can be part of the community event by donating food or cash to the effort or contacting distribution sites and asking about volunteer opportunities on Saturday. Donate online at foodbankofalaska.org.

Distribution locations, the Zip codes they serve, and the contact number for each follows:

• Faith Bible Fellowship, 14159 West Hollywood Road. Serves Zip codes: 99652, 99624, 99623 (near Big Lake) and 99694. Call 892-8545.

• Fellowship Lutheran Church, Mile 1.1, Petersville Road, Trapper Creek. Serves ZIP code: 99683. Call 952-1750.

• Wasilla Bible Church, 1651 West Nicola Ave., Wasilla. Serves ZIP codes: 99623 (near Wasilla), 99629, 99654 and 99687. Call 376-2176.

• Real Life Church, 10697 East Palmer-Wasilla Highway. Serves ZIP codes 99645 and 99674. Call 745-5673.

• Upper Susitna Senior Center, 16463 E. Helena St., Mile 98.5, Parks Highway, Talkeetna. Serves ZIP codes 99676 and 99667. Call 952-1750.

• Willow United Methodist Church, Mile 67.5, Parks Highway, Willow. Serves ZIP codes 99688 and 99694. Call 495-6638.

For more information, visit foodbankofalaska.org.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.