COASTAL OBSERVER

Those who eat Thanksgiving dinner at Low Country Community Church take home more than leftovers.

They leave with a sense of fellowship.

“A lot of people meet new friends. A lot of people meet old friends,” said Michelle Camp, the church’s technical director. “It’s not just a meal. It’s emotional support for some people.”

“Project N.O.A.H.,” a ministry of the church for the last 17 years, literally and figuratively stands for No One Alone on the Holiday. The ministry transforms the church’s fellowship hall, auditorium and parking lot into a restaurant. Volunteers are assembled into multiple teams to tackle tasks such as prepping, cooking and serving the food, as well as directing traffic and setting the tables. They also have a prayer team that  greets attendees and offers spiritual help.

The church sees about 1,000 people every year on Thanksgiving.

“It’s one of those things that you really need all hands on deck for,” she said.

The members of the church are eager to be involved. This year 188 volunteers offered to spend their Thanksgiving at the church with the people they serve. Camp said about a quarter of those volunteers don’t belong to the church but want to help out.

“We always get more volunteers than what we ask for,” she said. “There’s a lot of giving hearts in this church. It’s truly special.”

The goal of the dinner is simple, in theory – get people to talk to one another. Even the introverts, she added. There are eight seats at every table, and attendees are randomly seated with others.

“Everybody comes to a table and they talk to people that they may never talk to on the street. They may never run into each other again,” she said. “When you sit down and eat with each other like this, you truly find out a lot more about a person.”

“That right there, it just sparks conversation between families in the area, and they find out that they have things in common,” the Rev. Steve Fairchild, the senior pastor, said. “It is a tool for people to connect with other people. Isolation is not good for the human soul.”

Fairchild brought the idea of Project N.O.A.H. to the church when he joined in 2000. He worked as a Garth Brooks tribute artist. One night as he signed autographs, a family who had watched Fairchild perform multiple times asked him what his plans were for Thanksgiving.

“I was away from home. It was great. Rather than sitting in a hotel room by myself, I got to be in a family environment,” he said. “I just made a promise to myself that if I’m ever in the position where I have a chance to open my home, I’m going to do that. So I did.”

Fairchild became the senior pastor in 2010 after spending time as a worship leader.

In the six years Camp has been a member of the church, she has seen people drawn to the dinner for many reasons. Some are homeless. Some are widowed. Some happened to burn their own turkey.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a million dollars and you can buy your own turkey. We don’t care,” she said. “It’s a moment in time where the negativity is set out at the door. You can feel the love. You see the smiles.”

Fairchild said many of the people who come are away from home.

“For whatever reason, they’re unable to go back home to be with family,” he said. “So you have a lot of people that will just stay home and do nothing because they don’t know where to go or what to do.”

Camp said she sees familiar faces return every year.

“They don’t even search for somewhere else to go because they know that we’re here,” she said.

Fairchild recalled two people who reconnected at Project N.O.A.H. They served together in the armed forces and hadn’t seen each other in more than 20 years until they sat together at a table. There, the veterans discovered that they both had lost their wives in the past year.

“Ironically, they both got sat at the same table. It was a blessing overall,” she said. “They realized that they’re not the only ones in that situation.”

Camp said folks aren’t required to register or bring anything with them but themselves. Nor are they expected to pray and accept Jesus Christ.

The church will serve a full course meal that includes Thanksgiving staples such as turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

Dinner will be served on Thanksgiving Day from 12 to 3 p.m. at 4430 Murrells Inlet Rd.