MLK Center serves drive-thru style at annual Senior Thanksgiving Luncheon

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Martin Luther King Center hosted the 16th Annual Senior Thanksgiving Luncheon.

The event is typically held in the MLK Center’s Gymnasium, but the pandemic changed their model to a drive-thru.

“My parents always taught me to be strong and think of other ways to do things,” MLK Center Recreation Supervisor Mary Jones said. “My mama always said, ‘one monkey is not going to stop the show!’ So we feel that the monkey called corona is not going to stop what we do!”

Jones encourages organizations to get out and help seniors this holiday season as well.

“I would challenge different non-profit organizations to perhaps go out and communicate with the seniors,” she said. “Meet them where they are at in their residency, stand in their yard and have a conversation with them, give something to them.”

Pre-registration was required for the lunch and 250 people signed up for a plate, but MLK Celebration Committee Chair Hollis Briggs Jr. says they were prepared to feed double that amount.

“We’re ready to go, we’re gonna feed them too,” Briggs said.

Not only did seniors get a plate of food, they received a bag of PPE when they stopped by the MLK Center as well.