Lakeland NY

On Saturday, November 20^th, Holy Cross Church and Our Lady of Peace Church jointly sponsored a Spaghetti Dinner held in the Holy Cross Parish Hall. Anyone who donated at least one non-perishable food item for Our Lady of Peace’s Food Pantry received a free meal!  Nearly all of our generous diners donated much more than one item, some folks coming in with whole bags of food. It was wonderful to see the donations piling up in the church foyer.

This was the first joint event for the two Lakeland neighborhood churches and, because it was such a great success, it won’t be the last. Our Lady of Peace volunteers are already planning to have next year’s event at their church hall.

Thanks to our neighborhood merchants and some cash donations, the event cost nothing! We received:

• Bread from New York Bakery
• Salad fixings from Syracuse Banana
• Pasta and sauce from Spaghetti Warehouse
• Coca Cola products from Coca Cola
• Gift certificates from Wegman’s, Tops, Walmart, and Sam’s Club

There were over a dozen volunteers from each church who worked hard together to plan the event, solicit donations, set up the hall, prepare a delicious meal, serve it, and clean up afterward. And, over twenty bakers from both churches made cakes for dessert.  Thank you all so much.

Father Fetcho of Our Lady of Peace paid his first visit to our Parish and spent the evening enjoying everyone’s company, but especially that of Father Senior Walter Madej.  By the end of the evening they were like old buddies. It was great to see.

This event made us aware of the great need in our neighborhood, that our neighbors are willing to meet the need by their generous gifts, and that we are ready to work together to get it done. It was a terrific night!