Gabe Stark/Staff Photo
Wanda Shaw, Sonya Wimer, Mindy Bragg’s and MarAnn Giles, flattening out dough

Gabe Stark
The Trenton Telegraph

Out in the middle of the countryside, Coon Creek Baptist Church is prepping for something big. For more than 30 years, the church has organized an annual Thanksgiving meal event, and this year, the scale is as impressive as ever: volunteers are preparing to make over 1,000 meals to deliver to local residents to ensure that they can enjoy a warm meal on Thanksgiving. However, to make those 1000 Thanksgiving meals, it takes a lot of noodles. The church will make a ballpark of 135,000 of them, all handmade by church and community volunteers.

Gabe Stark/Staff Photo
Linda Browning, Judi Richmond and Doug Brown cracking eggs.

The process is no small feat. It begins with volunteers gathering on multiple prep days, the most recent being October 11th. Together, church members and neighbors crack eggs, mix dough using an old industrial mixer, roll it flat, and cut it into traditional egg noodles. The sheer volume, hundreds of pounds of dough, means that making these noodles is a long and difficult process.

“It helps to have young people to knead the dough,” said Diana Crawford, “It can be a struggle roll it all out.” The whole process takes some labor, but the church provides food and refreshments to keep the workers going.

Preparations are ongoing, with the next workday scheduled for October 25th at the church. As Thanksgiving approaches, the congregation and community members will continue working to prepare for the event, demonstrating that when people come together, daunting tasks, like making 1000 meals, is possible.

Gabe Stark/Staff Photo
Doug Crawdord and MaryAnn Giles cutting noodles.