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

Greensburg: On Christmas morning, Lisa Reynolds jumped at the chance to help out. A friend asked her to give up her holiday morning to ensure others had a meal, and she didn’t hesitate.

Reynolds, from Bell Township, joined a bunch of volunteers at the First Presbyterian Church. Together, they cooked, packed, and delivered over 700 Christmas dinners across Westmoreland County.

“It really brightens their day and mine too,” Reynolds shared. “Helping those who are less fortunate just feels great.”

These volunteers gathered early on Christmas and planned to work until about 3:30 p.m. The church had been hosting sit-down meals for around 150 people for nearly 20 years until the pandemic changed things in 2020.

Now, they switched to a pickup and delivery system, which actually allowed them to help even more people who couldn’t prepare or buy a holiday meal.

Scott Sucke, who organizes the cooking and delivery, said, “There’s so much need in the community. Without our volunteers, we couldn’t do this.”

Sucke, a former cook, mentioned that they started prepping for the Christmas dinner on Monday. The team worked tirelessly from Tuesday into Wednesday.

They whipped up about 20 hams, packed fruit cocktails, baked scalloped potatoes, and included veggies, rolls, and cake for dessert.

In total, they put in around 320 hours of work, with 40 volunteers on Christmas morning to pack and deliver meals to places like Greensburg, Jeannette, and Latrobe.

“This is all funded by donations, not from the church’s budget,” Sucke explained. “We’ve been collecting donations all year long.”

Each meal came with a handwritten holiday card, which Joy Ressler spent hours preparing. She recently moved to Greensburg and was excited to spend her first Christmas helping out.

Ressler didn’t expect to find her holiday calling when her Lyft driver took her past the church. She was curious and decided to check it out, eventually volunteering.

“I think it’s amazing,” she said. “I’ve wanted to do something like this for years, and it feels like a blessing.”

The Christmas dinner is part of the church’s monthly Sunday Supper program, which feeds about 350 people in need.

The Rev. Martin Ankrum, the church pastor for 24 years, emphasized the importance of the Christmas dinner for the community.

“There are people who need help,” he said while preparing for his deliveries. “It feeds some for a significant day, especially those who are food deprived.”

“We know it doesn’t solve everything, but it helps,” he added.

Rich Cholodofsky is a reporter covering Westmoreland County for TribLive. You can reach him at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.