ORANGE PARK – Feast of Plenty’s move to a new location on Thanksgiving Day did not diminish the response and was not curtailed by need.

Orders for deliveries, takeouts and dining in for families at The Springs Church included ample servings of smoked turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, pie and fruit salad in the annual event that makes sure nobody goes hungry, physically or spiritually, during the holiday.

“It unites people,” said the church’s outreach director, Ilya Mikhalevich.

Together with First Baptist Church of Orange Park, Celebration Church and St. James AME Zion Church, they served 1,500 meals.

“Success? I’d say it was a success,” Mikhalevich said. “We were able to give out 1,500 food boxes. The way everyone worked together was incredible. All of the congregations worked together. They all came together to serve people.”

The feast had been at the First Baptist Church of Orange Park for 20 years. There were no glitches in the relocation to The Springs.

While most dinners were picked up in the drive-thru, more than 25 drivers delivered hundreds of orders from shut-ins. Orders came from as far north as the Jacksonville International Airport, east as the beaches, south as Clay Hill and from the Westside.

Mikhalevich said future feasts will focus more on Clay County residents. Since some of the out-of-county trips took as long as 90 minutes, he said that deliveries would only be made for beneficiaries physically unable to travel.

“We delivered all over Clay County,” he said. “We had a lot of deliveries. We had a lot of pickup orders. And, obviously, dining was a real big success. We saw people who had already finished food and were still hanging out because it was a welcoming place for everybody.

“Not only were people fed, they were able to get out and see friends – or make new ones.”