Harvest Church provides dinner, Christian love to Petroleum Valley
FAIRVIEW — Although they had to come help out on a gloomy, drizzly Saturday, volunteers at the free dinner at Harvest Church were all smiles.
Four women of the church cooked up 150 meals consisting of ham, potato casserole, green beans and a roll, which were picked up or delivered to the needy in the borough or surrounding rural township of Fairview.
“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘When you serve the least of these, you are serving me,’” said the Rev. Michael Harvey, pastor at Harvest Church’s Petroleum Valley campus. “We are called to love as Christ has loved us.”
The 18 volunteers who helped check people in to get their dinners, dished the foods into to-go containers, or bagged the containers and various church publications, or delivered the hot meals to the community’s homebound, agreed with their pastor.
Tammy Steinmiller, of Fairview, said she volunteered at the dinner to help those in the community receive a hot meal and to expose them to the church.
“I’d like to see more people come learn about the Lord,” Steinmiller said.
Although she has only been a Harvest Church member for about one year, she said she has never been a member of a church whose members are so friendly and dedicated to serving.
“It’s a community full of believers in Christ,” Steinmiller said.
Ron Fiscus, of Cowansville, Armstrong County, also has been a member at Harvest for about a year. He was happy to help with the free dinners.
“It’s an outreach for the community,” he said. “I felt the Lord had told me to do this today.”
Fiscus also hopes those who get meals will consider attending a service at Harvest Church.
“We hope to show them that somebody cares about them and what the Lord has done for us, He can do for them,” he said.
Kim Olar, of West Sunbury, said the church’s mission is to bring people to Jesus, and the dinner was one way to do that.
“One of the last things Jesus said when he was here was ‘Love my people as I have loved you,’” he said. “The way the world is today, we need to let people know there’s better things coming.”
Glenda Shakley, of Fairview Township, has been a member of the church for 50 years as it changed names and locations.
She headed up the kitchen crew that prepared the food for the free dinners.
Shakley hoped those who came to get a meal also would take away something else.
“That somebody cares about them,” she said.
Shakley said it only took two or three hours to prepare the meal with her three assistants.
“I’ve got a great crew in the kitchen,” she said.
Flossie Mansberger, of Parker, picked up 14 meals and her friend, Alvirta Foringer, of Bruin, picked up 24 meals. In addition to enjoying a meal themselves, the women brought meals to their family members and friends who have a hard time getting out.
“It’s just something I like to do,” Foringer said.
“We’ve always taken care of our elderly people,” Mansberger said.
Sandy Snow picked up dinners for herself, her two cousins and a neighbor.
“He’s a widower,” she said.
Snow said people don’t realize how vital food banks and free meals are to those having trouble making ends meet.
“It’s a godsend,” she said of the free dinner on Saturday. “It really helps people with low incomes or when things are tight at the end of the month.”
Bonnie Olar, a Harvest volunteer, had a good time chatting with Snow while Snow waited for her dinners. She said the two discovered they have a lot in common and know many of the same people.
“We are all sisters and brothers,” Olar said. “We love everybody and we don’t judge anybody.”
Harvey looked around at his flock working to provide the meals and chatting amicably with those who came to get dinners.
“Christ loves them and compels them to serve and love,” he said. “We are all trying to imitate our savior.”
