It’s a Thanksgiving tradition.
For the past 30 years, the Care & Share Thanksgiving meal at Royal Redeemer Lutheran Church has been a tradition in North Royalton. Those who are new to our city, who may be a shut-in or who may not have any family in the area, have found fellowship at Royal Redeemer on Turkey Day, and they are served a great meal.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thanksgiving meal will continue for its 31st year.
“About a month ago, before I got the ball rolling for this year, I got in contact with my core group of volunteers and asked how they felt about doing this again during this pandemic. And they said they were all for it,” said Lisa Martin, who is in charge of putting together the Care & Share event.
But, the tradition will look a lot different this year.
For example, sign-ups to receive a meal or to volunteer to deliver will be done completely online.
“We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of people gathering together in one place. So there will be no eating-in at the church. It will be strictly delivery or carry-out,” said Martin. It’s a big move when you consider more than 400 people came to Royal Redeemer last year to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.
“Our delivery drivers will not be allowed in the church building. So we will have a core group of about 20 that will be distributing the meals to the cars waiting in the church parking lot. We will e-mail the drivers their delivery route. We’re just trying to limit the amount of people that are together,” said Martin.
As you can imagine, the need in the community for Care & Share may be at the highest it’s ever been. “I cannot cook for any more than 1,600 people because of the size of the kitchen,” said Martin. “I’m anticipating we’ll be at that mark, but I don’t know. That’s why we have the registration on line.”
“Over the course of the past eight months, we have continued to serve, provide for, and meet the ever-growing needs of our church family and for those in and around our community,” shares Senior Pastor John Zahrte. “Whether it is through prayer, food pantry donations, or monetary gifts, our mission is to make an impact in His Kingdom every day. We are working to meet the spiritual and tangible needs of many people right now.” Zahrte also notes, “Although much different this year, safely offering the Care & Share Thanksgiving meals is an important outreach effort, especially now. We are thankful for the opportunity to reflect Christ’s love and share it with those around us.”
If you will be having a Thanksgiving meal delivered there are a couple requests that Martin asks to be followed. “Even when you come to the door to accept the delivery, we ask that you wear a mask. It has to be safety first. What’s sad is that our drivers won’t be able to come and visit with those who are shut-in, even for five minutes. Sometimes, those five minutes may be the only visitors that person may have for the day.”
“I still feel slightly nervous because of the COVID level that Ohio is at. I hope this doesn’t happen, but I fear that I may have to shut Care & Share down completely because of COVID. Who knows what the situation will be like by Thanksgiving,” said Martin.
Deliveries will be made to those who have requested a meal sometime between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Carry-out meals will be available between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. at Royal Redeemer Lutheran Church, located at 11680 Royalton Road, the corner of Royalton and Abbey Roads in North Royalton. “We’ll have two lines, nobody will have to get out of their cars,” said Martin.
To sign up, log on to www.royred.org. Because there will be a limit of 1,600 meals to be served, Martin says “sign up early.” If you want to volunteer, use that website to get that accomplished. The sign-up became active on November 1.
“I can’t imagine not doing this,” said Martin.
Let the tradition continue.

By JOE JASTRZEMSKI
Contributing Writer