Gainey, Fitzgerald, Peduto to serve Thanksgiving dinners at Light of Life mission

The preparation part of Thanksgiving dinner begins early in most households and Pittsburgh’s Light of Life Rescue Mission is no exception. In fact, volunteers will be showing up to cook as early as 4 a.m. on Thursday morning.

The mission is planning to serve over 1,000 turkey dinners between noon and 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving at Light of Life Rescue Mission’s shelter in Pittsburgh. Mayor-Elect Ed Gainey, outgoing Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald will join Light of Life staff and volunteers in serving a full Thanksgiving meal to the most vulnerable in the community.

“We had a group of volunteers come in and prepare all of the stuffing for tomorrow. It’s a big outreach day for us,” said Doug Smith, development director of Light of Life Rescue Mission, which opened a new facility this year in the North Side near the former Heinz plant.

In addition to providing food, Light of Life is also handing out winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves and hygiene kits.

“Everything we do, we want to provide hope,” said Smith. “So whether that’s providing hope through material items or it’s providing a meal, our hope is whatever their need is, we can help them by having a next step for them.”

Smith said part of the mission’s goal is providing shelter through short-term emergency shelter and long-term care for men, women and children for up to 24 months.

“Our hope is that, whatever their need is, that we can help them by having a next step for them,” he said. “We just want to help every single individual who walks through our doors in any way that we can.”

Thanksgiving week began last Monday with a frozen dinner giveaway that included over 1,700 boxed dinners being hand-delivered to the needy by the mission’s volunteers. They included a frozen turkey, corn, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, gravy, cranberries, butter, rolls and a pumpkin pie.