Additional volunteers help local ministry serve up annual Thanksgiving meal

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- To better serve the community this Thanksgiving, additional volunteers were needed for 'His Urban Presence' ministry's annual holiday meal.

This included longtime volunteers like Charles Reece, who were hit hard by the pandemic, but still willing to serve.

"I had a good job and lost my job. I had a place to stay indoors and since I lost my job, I wasn't able to stay there," Reece said.

Reece is one of several additional volunteers taken on by the ministry this year to help feed up to 200 people.

"We've just kind of had to create some new methods for serving, so that we can keep in compliance with the COVID-19 rules as much as we can," Co-Founder and Pastor, Edwin Aldrich, said.

Those changes included everything from serving protocols to sanitation.

"We've had to create plexiglass barriers for our serving trays, so that people are separated from the food. We actually have volunteers today whose whole job is sanitizing each seat before the next person comes in."

He said they also upgraded their venue size to meet capacity requirements, while still serving their largest group yet at Pikes Peak Academy.

Despite the challenges, Aldrich said this year's meal was more important than ever.

"It felt like this year was so much more important to have a community gathering, where we could jointly express our thanks in spite of all that's happened this year. It just seemed like it had to be done. We had to find some way to make it happen."

To learn more about 'His Urban Presence,' visit their website.