Greensburg church volunteers dish out, deliver hundreds of Christmas meals to those in need

Dec. 25—Lisa Reynolds didn’t think twice when asked by a family friends to give up her Christmas morning make sure those in need had a holiday meal.

Reynolds, of Bell Township, was among the dozens of volunteers at the First Presbyterian Church in Greensburg who cooked the food, packed boxes and delivered more than 700 Christmas dinners throughout Westmoreland County.

“This just brightens their day a little bit and it brightens my day a little bit,” Reynolds said. “It just gives you a great feeling to help someone who is a little less fortunate than us. It makes their day and it makes my day.”

Volunteers gathered at the downtown church early Christmas morning and many expected to stay on until about 3:30 p.m.

The church had hosted sit-down Christmas meals to about 150 people in need for about two decades up until the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in 2020, which caused it to alter the program.

It converted to a pickup and delivery system that ultimately provided an opportunity to serve more people unable to prepare or purchase a proper holiday meal.

“As we know, there is so much need in the community. And without the volunteers, we couldn’t do anything,” said Scott Sucke, who coordinates the cooking and distribution of the meals.

Sucke, a former cook at Mountain View Inn in Unity, said preparations for Christmas dinner started on Monday. He and his team of volunteers worked around-the-clock from Tuesday into Wednesday.

They cooked about 20 hams. Fruit cocktails were dished out into individual portions, scalloped potatoes were baked for the meals that also included vegetables, rolls and cake for dessert.

In all, about 320 man-hours of work were put into the meal preparations. There were 40 volunteers on hand Christmas morning to pack up and deliver the dinners to locations in Greensburg, Jeannette, Latrobe and other parts of the county.

“This is completely funded by donations and is not part of the church’s budget,” Sucke said. “We collected donations all through the year.”

With each meal comes a handwritten holiday card.

Joy Ressler of Greensburg spent hours earlier this week stuffing envelops and signing “Season’s Greetings” on those cards.

Ressler is a New York native who, after retiring, moved to Greensburg from Virginia last summer with her husband. She spent her first Christmas in her new hometown dishing out ham dinners for those in need.

She said she didn’t realize when her Lyft driver drove through Greensburg on the way to a local furniture store that she would find a new holiday calling.

“He drove us by the church and I didn’t know what this big, beautiful building was,” Ressler said. “So the next day, I came here to visit and came again the following Sunday for services. And now I volunteer.

“I think it is amazing, and I’ve been trying for years to do some kind of service. This was a godsend.”

Christmas dinner is an extension of the church’s monthly Sunday Supper program that feeds about 350 people in need.

The Rev. Martin Ankrum has served as church pastor for 24 years. He said the Christmas dinner program is important for the community.

“There are people who are in need,” said Ankrum, as he prepared to make his scheduled Christmas deliveries in Latrobe. “It feeds some people for a day — a significant day — who are food deprived.

“We know it doesn’t solve any problems. But it helps.”

Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.

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