Giving Thanks: JCC Class At Panama Central School To Host Community Thanksgiving
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A Jamestown Community College level class at Panama Central School will be holding a Thanksgiving dinner for the Panama community next week.
The class -- JCC Leadership Engagement -- is taught by Helen Keefe and is made up of a group of six sophomores, one junior and one senior. A requirement for the course is that the students do a 20 hour service project during the semester, and for this class the students chose to do a Thanksgiving dinner.
The dinner will be held on Monday Nov 21 at the Panama United Methodist Church and is open to the entire Panama Central School community. Eat in time is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and take out is available from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The dinner being put on by the class is also supported by the National Honor Society, who has done a similar event in the past.
"We decided to do a dinner because we thought it would be a nice way to give back to the community," senior Danielle Scolton said. "NHS did something similar a while ago, which gave us an idea and we thought it would be nice to give back in that way."
Putting the event together has taken a few weeks, and the class is still working out some of the last logistics according to junior Brandon Keefe.
"Organizing the event has taken a couple of weeks," Keefe said. "We're still ironing out some of the details but we are 99% there. We have had to figure out what everyone will be doing, who will be cleaning, cooking the food, the number count, people to serve and handle the dining area. We also had to get approval from the school for the event."
The class focuses on leadership, and the point of including a service project is to help the kids to work on their own leadership skills while also working together. Sophomore Kolten Rhoades said this was something that they learned a lot about while preparing for the Thanksgiving dinner.
"We learned a lot about how to work together and find solutions to our problems while using everyone's viewpoints," Rhoades said. "We had debates and worked to find the best solutions that could use all of the points. We mixed some ideas and figured out how to lead and hold an event for our community."
Sophomore Katelyn Schroder said that while learning leadership skills the kids also had to work to diffuse problems along the way.
"We learned leadership and how to diffuse some of the problems that came up," Schroder said. "We had a few ideas before the dinner was set in stone and had those denied, so we had to work through those and figure out the best community project to do."
Another part of the dinner is some of the food donations are coming from other students and other grades in the school. The class asked the seventh grade to donate green beans, the eighth grade to donate cranberry sauce, freshmen to bring corn, sophomores stuffing, juniors potatoes and seniors desserts and rolls. The elementary grades are able to bring anything on the list that they want.
"We had an issue as to how to get all of the food that we wanted," sophomore Lily Borowski said. "We got some money from the school but we also asked the other students to donate. We trusted the seniors more to do the desserts and rolls and they gave the other grades items to donate. We had teachers offer them extra credit to donate food as well."
One of the aspects of the required service project for the class is to help make the community better. The class is hoping this dinner will do that by offering Thanksgiving to those who need it and by also bringing the school together.
"We hope that people who can't go to Thanksgiving or might not have a family to go to will be able to get a Thanksgiving," sophomore Richie Lyon said. "We also were thinking of the elderly who might not be able to have one, or people who can't afford it. This will allow them to eat a decent meal one night."
Additionally, Lyon said having the other students help with food donations helps to strengthen the school.
"Having all of the kids donate bands them together for the extra credit and also brings in a sense of comradery," Lyon said. "There was a lack of that before."
Elementary students have also made placemats for the night and music and entertainment -- including a slideshow -- will also be provided by some of Panama's students. The Panama community has helped the JCC leadership class put a great effort into this and the class is very appreciative of the help.
"We are grateful to give back to the community," sophomore Ava Ecker said. "We are happy to help families in the community who might not have a Thanksgiving or might not be able to afford to."
Sophomore Brody Stravato added that holding this Thanksgiving dinner will bring people together during hard times.
"It's nice to have people come together in difficult times to enjoy a meal," Stravato said. "We appreciate the community's help to bring this together."
While the dinner is free, donations are accepted and any money donated will go to the Panama United Methodist Church. Any leftover unopened food will be donated to the church's food pantry and leftover cooked food will be given to the school's janitorial staff and local shut-ins who might not be able to come out.
As the teacher for the class, Helen Keefe said the kids have gone above and beyond the twenty hours required for the service project, and have actually probably taken at least twice the required time. She said they have also successfully learned how to work well with others along with their own leadership style and how to build strength and followership. Keefe also thanked the administration at Panama for their support.
"I just want to thank our administration and new superintendent for the help, along with Pastor Steve Taylor at the Methodist Church," Keefe said. "This will be an old-fashioned dinner that will help people come together. People will be able to kick back and have fun. It's an excellent example of how the Panama Central School family community really is."
For any questions, Keefe can be contacted at hkeefe@pancent.org.