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!["It's just a good feeling to be able to help out. It's very rewarding," said volunteer Wendy Skees, who said she heard from a lot of guests that their hard times were the result of lost jobs. "One was a paramedic who lost his job and got sick at the same time," Skees said. "And we had another guest, a lady who came here, who's daughter got cancer and they don't have insurance. It's the med[ication]s that's bogging them down." Skees said the stories she heard were very humbling. As she put it: "We're all a paycheck away" from the same fate. "I just lost my job," as a retail store manager, she said. "I could see myself so easily in this situation. It is by the grace of God and the help of family and friends and neighbors." Her best advice to others on the edge: "Be grateful and help out. Just help out your neighbors. It's just so rewarding to be able to help."](http://www.mypapernow.com/Other/Thanksgiving-Day-Dinner-Hosted/DSC0832/724603128_TVQbj-Ti-1.jpg "\"It's just a good feeling to be able to help out. It's very rewarding,\" said volunteer Wendy Skees, who said she heard from a lot of guests that their hard times were the result of lost jobs. \"One was a paramedic who lost his job and got sick at the same time,\" Skees said. \"And we had another guest, a lady who came here, who's daughter got cancer and they don't have insurance. It's the med[ication]s that's bogging them down.\" Skees said the stories she heard were very humbling. As she put it: \"We're all a paycheck away\" from the same fate. \"I just lost my job,\" as a retail store manager, she said. \"I could see myself so easily in this situation. It is by the grace of God and the help of family and friends and neighbors.\" Her best advice to others on the edge: \"Be grateful and help out. Just help out your neighbors. It's just so rewarding to be able to help.\"")
![From left, in back, Kieyara Robinson and Alexxia Sherman. In front, from left, Luani Crayton, Avianna Jackson, and Genesis Henderson.
"It's wonderful to help children who don't have as much stuff as other people," Robinson said. "I think it's kind of general for my nana [grandmother Cynthia Pinckney] to help people."
"I think that it is incredible that we get to come out every year and to feed and clothe the needy and that is just fulfilling," Sherman said. "It fills my heart with joy to be able to see kids with a smile on their face."](http://www.mypapernow.com/Other/Thanksgiving-Day-Dinner-Hosted/DSC0765/724598753_xUfyx-Ti-1.jpg "From left, in back, Kieyara Robinson and Alexxia Sherman. In front, from left, Luani Crayton, Avianna Jackson, and Genesis Henderson.
\"It's wonderful to help children who don't have as much stuff as other people,\" Robinson said. \"I think it's kind of general for my nana [grandmother Cynthia Pinckney] to help people.\"
\"I think that it is incredible that we get to come out every year and to feed and clothe the needy and that is just fulfilling,\" Sherman said. \"It fills my heart with joy to be able to see kids with a smile on their face.\"")
![James Flint, left, said he rememberd a picture taken the year before of himself and his grandmother, Rosemarie Muffley, at the Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner. Muffley died on Sept. 29, 2009, "and the next day was her anniversary," Flint said.
"My mother was [volunteering] with Cynthia Pinckney for five years," said Michelle Pinegar, pictured with Flint and her sons Nicholas, front, and Matthew. "She died with a smile on her face. I think she was just glorious in seeing the Lord. She had quit breathing for 60 seconds and then opened her eyes and said, 'I love you,' five times to all five of us in the room, me, my brother, my sister, my father, and my aunt."
As for Flint, he said his grandmother would be proud that he volunteered again, at the Sixth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner. As for what he would say to her, Flint's answer: "Thanks for everything." He said there's "not a word to describe" his grandmother, but he did note that he loved going to the beach with her and "she knew how to make good coffee."
"We're following in her footsteps, doing what God would have us do," Michelle Pinegar added. "Be charitable. Be Jesus' helpers."
Matthew Pinegar has an internship at The Crossing church. He plans to become a youth minister. "They ran it very well," he said about the annual dinner. "And they helped a lot of people."](http://www.mypapernow.com/Other/Thanksgiving-Day-Dinner-Hosted/DSC0842/724603611_qoMz9-Ti.jpg "James Flint, left, said he rememberd a picture taken the year before of himself and his grandmother, Rosemarie Muffley, at the Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner. Muffley died on Sept. 29, 2009, \"and the next day was her anniversary,\" Flint said.
\"My mother was [volunteering] with Cynthia Pinckney for five years,\" said Michelle Pinegar, pictured with Flint and her sons Nicholas, front, and Matthew. \"She died with a smile on her face. I think she was just glorious in seeing the Lord. She had quit breathing for 60 seconds and then opened her eyes and said, 'I love you,' five times to all five of us in the room, me, my brother, my sister, my father, and my aunt.\"
As for Flint, he said his grandmother would be proud that he volunteered again, at the Sixth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner. As for what he would say to her, Flint's answer: \"Thanks for everything.\" He said there's \"not a word to describe\" his grandmother, but he did note that he loved going to the beach with her and \"she knew how to make good coffee.\"
\"We're following in her footsteps, doing what God would have us do,\" Michelle Pinegar added. \"Be charitable. Be Jesus' helpers.\"
Matthew Pinegar has an internship at The Crossing church. He plans to become a youth minister. \"They ran it very well,\" he said about the annual dinner. \"And they helped a lot of people.\"")
The Sixth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner, hosted by Cynthia Pinckney Ministries at the Boys & Girls Club in Brandon, again fed hundreds of people in need. In addition to a traditional holiday meal, guests had the opportunity to collect free clothes, toiletries, and school supplies, as well as medical supplies and hair cuts. Pinckney took a moment to reflect on the changing landscape of poverty in Brandon since she started her ministry eight years ago.
"Worse, I've never seen anything like it," Pinckney said. "It's very, very rough. Very rough out there. It really breaks my heart, in many areas, the calls that come in and you don't have it to give, especially when there's children involved." Top on the list of needs are money for monthly electric bills and clothes. Also, rent.
"I think we're going to go a little deeper first before we see any type of a change," Pinckney said. "What I really believe is people are going to have to acknowledge that we're in times that are real bad. But to operate in this time the mind has to change. People have to acknowledge something is wrong, what do we do, and how do we do it."
On a positive note, Pinckney added, the churches and synagogues are coming together in a united front "and that's big, that they're standing up together and coming up to the plate. And that's working. And that's what I'm really happy about."
In the finaly analysis, she said, "it's not going to come from the government. It's going to come from the churches and synagogues. From the people."
As for what keeps her going through unprecedented trying times, Pinckney said: "I pray a lot. Because if I didn't then I would take on the whole burden myself and I can't do that. I kind of leave it at the feet of Jesus and do what I can do."
Related Coverage:
I Am Hope Cafe
River Of Life Cluster Of Churches, Christmas 2008 Dinner
Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2007)
Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2008)
"Worse, I've never seen anything like it," Pinckney said. "It's very, very rough. Very rough out there. It really breaks my heart, in many areas, the calls that come in and you don't have it to give, especially when there's children involved." Top on the list of needs are money for monthly electric bills and clothes. Also, rent.
"I think we're going to go a little deeper first before we see any type of a change," Pinckney said. "What I really believe is people are going to have to acknowledge that we're in times that are real bad. But to operate in this time the mind has to change. People have to acknowledge something is wrong, what do we do, and how do we do it."
On a positive note, Pinckney added, the churches and synagogues are coming together in a united front "and that's big, that they're standing up together and coming up to the plate. And that's working. And that's what I'm really happy about."
In the finaly analysis, she said, "it's not going to come from the government. It's going to come from the churches and synagogues. From the people."
As for what keeps her going through unprecedented trying times, Pinckney said: "I pray a lot. Because if I didn't then I would take on the whole burden myself and I can't do that. I kind of leave it at the feet of Jesus and do what I can do."
Related Coverage:
I Am Hope Cafe
River Of Life Cluster Of Churches, Christmas 2008 Dinner
Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2007)
Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2008)
Cynthia Pinckney Ministries at the Boys & Girls Club in Brandon, again fed hundreds of people in need. In addition to a traditional holiday meal, guests had the opportunity to collect free clothes, toiletries, and school supplies, as well as medical supplies and hair cuts. Pinckney took a moment to reflect on the changing landscape of poverty in Brandon since she started her ministry eight years ago.
"Worse, I've never seen anything like it," Pinckney said. "It's very, very rough. Very rough out there. It really breaks my heart, in many areas, the calls that come in and you don't have it to give, especially when there's children involved." Top on the list of needs are money for monthly electric bills and clothes. Also, rent.
"I think we're going to go a little deeper first before we see any type of a change," Pinckney said. "What I really believe is people are going to have to acknowledge that we're in times that are real bad. But to operate in this time the mind has to change. People have to acknowledge something is wrong, what do we do, and how do we do it."
On a positive note, Pinckney added, the churches and synagogues are coming together in a united front "and that's big, that they're standing up together and coming up to the plate. And that's working. And that's what I'm really happy about."
In the finaly analysis, she said, "it's not going to come from the government. It's going to come from the churches and synagogues. From the people."
As for what keeps her going through unprecedented trying times, Pinckney said: "I pray a lot. Because if I didn't then I would take on the whole burden myself and I can't do that. I kind of leave it at the feet of Jesus and do what I can do."
Related Coverage:
I Am Hope Cafe
River Of Life Cluster Of Churches, Christmas 2008 Dinner
Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2007)
Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2008)
Nativity Food Pantry Outreach, Taste Of 2009
2009 Feed The Bay" href="javascript:openLB(724603827,'',XLarge,'',1024,681);">
The Sixth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner, hosted by Cynthia Pinckney Ministries at the Boys & Girls Club in Brandon, again fed hundreds of people in need. In addition to a traditional holiday meal, guests had the opportunity to collect free clothes, toiletries, and school supplies, as well as medical supplies and hair cuts. Pinckney took a moment to reflect on the changing landscape of poverty in Brandon since she started her ministry eight years ago.
"Worse, I've never seen anything like it," Pinckney said. "It's very, very rough. Very rough out there. It really breaks my heart, in many areas, the calls that come in and you don't have it to give, especially when there's children involved." Top on the list of needs are money for monthly electric bills and clothes. Also, rent.
"I think we're going to go a little deeper first before we see any type of a change," Pinckney said. "What I really believe is people are going to have to acknowledge that we're in times that are real bad. But to operate in this time the mind has to change. People have to acknowledge something is wrong, what do we do, and how do we do it."
On a positive note, Pinckney added, the churches and synagogues are coming together in a united front "and that's big, that they're standing up together and coming up to the plate. And that's working. And that's what I'm really happy about."
In the finaly analysis, she said, "it's not going to come from the government. It's going to come from the churches and synagogues. From the people."
As for what keeps her going through unprecedented trying times, Pinckney said: "I pray a lot. Because if I didn't then I would take on the whole burden myself and I can't do that. I kind of leave it at the feet of Jesus and do what I can do."
Related Coverage:
I Am Hope Cafe
River Of Life Cluster Of Churches, Christmas 2008 Dinner
Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2007)
Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2008)
"Worse, I've never seen anything like it," Pinckney said. "It's very, very rough. Very rough out there. It really breaks my heart, in many areas, the calls that come in and you don't have it to give, especially when there's children involved." Top on the list of needs are money for monthly electric bills and clothes. Also, rent.
"I think we're going to go a little deeper first before we see any type of a change," Pinckney said. "What I really believe is people are going to have to acknowledge that we're in times that are real bad. But to operate in this time the mind has to change. People have to acknowledge something is wrong, what do we do, and how do we do it."
On a positive note, Pinckney added, the churches and synagogues are coming together in a united front "and that's big, that they're standing up together and coming up to the plate. And that's working. And that's what I'm really happy about."
In the finaly analysis, she said, "it's not going to come from the government. It's going to come from the churches and synagogues. From the people."
As for what keeps her going through unprecedented trying times, Pinckney said: "I pray a lot. Because if I didn't then I would take on the whole burden myself and I can't do that. I kind of leave it at the feet of Jesus and do what I can do."
Related Coverage:
I Am Hope Cafe
River Of Life Cluster Of Churches, Christmas 2008 Dinner
Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2007)
Fifth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner (2008)
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