By Brett Hetherington*

Election day in Peninsula is a special day, and not just because citizens are given the opportunity to cast their votes for civil servants both local and national. For more than a century the people of Peninsula United Methodist Church (Northern Waters District) have made and served meals to the community on Election Day.

“This tradition goes back years,” said Pastor Lea Mahan. “Somebody found a 1923 date, but I thought it was even earlier than that. They talked about their mothers and grandmothers baking the biscuits at home and drying the chickens. In fact, I heard that they at one point did oyster stew at noon when the farmers came into town to vote. So, this goes way back.”

The tradition has grown into a fundraiser for the church, open to anyone in the community who would like to avoid the worry of cooking a meal on such a busy day. The menu has changed over the years but has settled into a turkey dinner with all the trimmings: mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, vegetables and even pie. Turkeys are prepared off-site by parishioners and the remaining menu is prepared in the church building.

“This year we got new ovens and a new refrigerator to help us get everything ready,” Mahan said, sharing how important this dinner is to the church.

Through war, depression, and recession the Election Day meals have only encountered one serious challenge – the pandemic that began in 2020.

“We used to have people come into this room here,” shared Pat Simons, gesturing around the church fellowship hall. “We would sit 54 people in that room for all those years and then COVID came and so we’ve gone completely take-out, and it is so much easier.”

“We started out with fewer people when we began takeout, because we weren’t sure what the response would be or how it would work logistically. But we have found it to be very smooth, very easy. It’s a more controlled environment, and we can plan ahead. That helps,” said Lynn Parmentier.

The church offers two meal pick-up times. The first is during the lunch hour and the second in the evening to accommodate dinner, with the evening option generating a larger crowd. The change to a takeout model allowed the church to require individuals to order in advance and this year meals were sold out on the Wednesday prior to election day.

Parmentier shared that there were 334 meals sold for the 2024 election day dinner.

Planning for the dinner starts early, and preparation began in September when the church began with promotion. And as much as the dinner is a tradition for the church it has become a tradition for the people that are picking up the dinners.

“If you put it in the newspaper, people are going to come,” said Parmentier. “A lot of our people are repeat people. We have one woman who comes up from Barberton, and this will be her third year coming!”

The Election Day Dinner is a massive undertaking. But it also creates an opportunity for the church to provide a service for the community and to build a bond among themselves. The spirit of those cooking and packing meals was jovial even when things did not go smoothly. Everyone who comes in to pick up a meal is greeted with warm and friendly smiles.

And as one gentleman by the name of Jack who was directing which door people should enter to pick up their meal shared, “A lot of hard work goes into the dinner, but there’s a lot of good camaraderie as well. They work hard but have a good time as well.”

The Conference Communications team would like to share other stories that highlight ways that each of us is answering the call to reach out to our communities in creative ways. Please e-mail your ministry story to EOC Executive Director of Communications Rick Wolcott at wolcott@eocumc.com.

* Brett Hetherington is the Communications specialist for the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church.