Centennial Bank new stewards of annual dinner

For 20 years, Conway residents Bob and Catherin Blankenship set the Thanksgiving table at Second Baptist Church for any and all who may not have had the luxury of a home-cooked meal with family, and their yearly community meal became a fixture in Conway’s philanthropic constellation. 

Last year, though, the Blankenships announced that 2008’s meal would be their last. 

Twenty years was a good run for a tradition dependent on the good will and funds of the Blankenships and thousands of donors and volunteers, but when Lori Case of Centennial Bank saw the news, she thought her bank had the volunteers and the means to make it 21 and counting.

“I read that article, and I thought, that’s something we can do,” Case told the Log Cabin in January.

And so on Thursday stewardship of the tradition was passed to Centennial Bank and First United Methodist Church, which opened its community hall and kitchen for the event.

By about 11 a.m., more than 300 meals prepared by volunteers were en route to homes on local Meals on Wheels delivery routes and to others where people called to request them. Shortly thereafter, the volunteers were ready to serve 400 more at the church. 

Between the crews cooking and setting up on Wednesday and on Thursday morning and the crews serving, helping in the various tasks that come with such an endeavor, and cleaning up, about 150 people gave their time to help out. Case said that about 100 more people called asking to volunteer, but were told that plenty had already offered.

 Also playing a large role in the volunteer effort this year was the Renewal Ranch, a new faith-based organization putting down roots in Conway and hoping to combat the cycle of drug addiction by providing what is described by founder James Loy as “a spiritual boot camp for men.” 

Donations, which had largely supported the Blankenships’ tradition for 20 years, were also offered to the bank over the last few months. While appreciated, Case said, these weren’t accepted as the bank intended to pay for the food, which she said cost about $5,000. 

“This is our way of giving back to a community that has been so good to us,” she explained.

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached at 505-1238 or by E-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)