‘What that is, honey, is love’: SC woman’s 37th Thanksgiving week meal feeds community
In Bobbie Brown’s way of looking at the world, Thanksgiving has no self. There is no angst over hot holiday deals at stores or on the internet.
There are only people who need to know they are loved.
She breaks the words “thanks” and “giving” down as only a woman who is 87 years old and has put on a pre-holiday meal for the past 37 years running at a South Carolina church can do.
“I want to bless people,” Brown said. “I want to show them I am thankful for them. I want to show them we all have something to give. And what that is, honey, is love.”
And food.
Bobbie Brown can cook like only ladies of her generation can cook. The old saying about food so good somebody put her foot in it? Bobbie Brown is the definition.
Turkey and gravy and dressing. Green beans and rolls and sweet potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Pie to die for.
All for others.
At Cedar Grove Baptist Church between Rock Hill and Chester on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, everybody is welcome to eat and be praised. They have been for 37 years.
There is no buffet line. Bobbie Brown and her family and some others who are close as family buy the food and cook the food and then they serve the food. They carry it to the tables filled with area seniors. Other diners come by bus from the S.C. Department of Social Services and the Board of Disabilities and Special Needs.
“We welcome everybody,” Brown said. “We are thankful for these people. God told me to do it —so I do.”
And if somebody can’t make it to the church, a small army of volunteers delivers the food.
Every year this magic happens before Thanksgiving, since George Bush the elder was president. But time and the calendar are part of Bobbie Brown’s world, too. Although she marches around Cedar Grove church and into its fellowship hall kitchen like DeGaulle through Paris, she admits she is 87 years old.
The next family generation to carry on
Tuesday marked the end of an era, because Bobbie Brown’s family said she’s going to pass the torch to the younger generation, even if she will continue to be involved. The Thanksgiving week meal will continue, but the family expects her to step back some.
Her children — Charles, Carolyn, Roger, Georgette, and Vanessa — have volunteered to help with the meal since it started. Her 11 grandchildren have grown up with it.
“She’s stepping out of the logistics and stepping into the fellowship,” said one of her granddaughters, Jocelyn Boulware Bruce, 29. “This meal for others, it’s been going on longer than I have been alive. It matters so much to her to help people.”
The next generation will continue the annual event, she said.
Boulware Bruce said the meal is food, but more. It is a testament to the value of all people.
“This is a space of belonging,” she said of those who are served. “Of community.”
Bobbie Brown may be passing the torch some, but her message of joy remains.
And when the first plates are filled, she’s right smack in the middle of so many volunteers. Ladling out food, waving to all who sit at the tables.
“I am thankful God has allowed me to do this,” Brown said. “To give where we can. To show people they are special. To love each other.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 10:20 AM.
