After three years of holding successful community dinners during Thanksgiving, the Torrence Family Schoolhouse 4-H Community Club is hosting the first annual Community Easter Dinner next week.
“So many people enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner that we decided to ask the students if they wanted to hold another one for Easter,” Kimera Torrence said.
The students overwhelmingly agreed to hold the event and recently held a fish fry to raise money for the expenses.
During that event 600 pieces of fish were fried, 147 plates of food were sold and more than $1,600 was raised to put toward the dinner, Torrence said.
In the past, about 200 people were served at the community dinner, but with everyone’s support, they are hoping to serve 250 people at the storm shelter, and through delivery and take out meals, she said.
The students and parents love being part of the experience, Torrence said.
“For a lot of my kids they were not as connected to the community before,” she said.
Now, they have an opportunity to gather with the whole town, including city and county employees.
“It’s the Poplarville family,” Torrence said.
The students also regularly deliver meals to senior citizens around the community to ensure they have at least one hot meal every day.
The students and seniors love it, Torrence said.
“Even though the community is small, it still can have the feeling of a larger city where everyone is disconnected,” she said.
By hosting a community dinner, it doesn’t matter where they come from, everybody gets to come together and share a meal, Torrence said.
Not only are the students influenced by the experience, often those that attend are pleasantly surprised to see the kids doing all of the work, Torrence said.
Preparations for the event began this week with the students making decorations, planning the meal and buying groceries, she said.
“They learn a lot,” Torrence said.
While it is an Easter dinner, it’s scheduled for the week before so everyone can attend, Torrence said.
Other sponsors of the event include the Mississippi State University Extension Service, Coca-Cola, Farm Bureau, Anthony Hales, Russell Peters, Olive Baptist Church and more.
The community dinner will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 6 at the Poplarville Fairgrounds storm shelter on Highway 26.
For more information or to sign up to have a meal delivered, contact Torrence at 601-569-0991 or Agnes Dalton at 601-746-6020 by March 30 at 5 p.m.