EDWARDSBURG — If someone had walked into the Edwardsburg Food Pantry on Nov. 20, they would have been greeted by rows and rows of brown paper bags and shopping carts filled to the brim with boxed stuffing or cans of cranberry sauce.

The food and the many volunteers, some of whom took time off work to help out, who were present at the food pantry, were part of a special Thanksgiving giveaway.

The Edwardsburg Food Pantry, located inside Our Lady of The Lake Catholic Church, 24832 US-12, Edwardsburg, hosted its annual Thanksgiving food giveaway, where the pantry gives away full Thanksgiving meals to families who have used the pantry’s services throughout the year.

Each family received three bags of food which included Thanksgiving staples such as potatoes and either a turkey or chicken depending on the size of the family, said Scott Scheel, the pastor of Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church and the current president of the Edwardsburg Food Pantry.

“We gave away about 180 bags in our first hour,” Scheel said. “It was kind of crazy.”

While the number of volunteers on the day of the give away was impressive, Scheel said, the night before the giveaway was even more so, with more than 100 volunteers coming to the food pantry to bag all the food to giveaway, Scheel said.

“It’s pretty impressive how the whole community comes out to do that,” he said.

Pastor Scott Otis of Hope United Methodist Church and Bob Flinkinger of Our Lady of the Lake also sit on the board of the food pantry. As both are relatively new to Edwardsburg, this is the first time they are both experiencing the Thanksgiving food giveaway. Both said they were amazed at the way the community turned out to help and give back to those in need.

“It’s been amazing,” Otis said of participating in the giveaway. “It was amazing. You almost can’t believe how many people were here helping out.”

Otis said he had never seen anything like the turnout the night before the giveaway before.

Flinkinger echoed Otis’ sentiments, saying that he was inspired by the way that the people of Edwardsburg had a desire to help others.

“It was great,” Flinkinger said. “Our Lady of the Lake provided the space, and we were happy to do so for something this.”

The way the community came out is unique to Edwardsburg, Scheel said, adding that he has never seen a food giveaway like this done as well in any other community.

Scheel said that the food pantry plans to do this whole process again the week before Christmas.

“I think this is important for us to do this, because we can give back during this time,” Scheel said. “It really helps people out, and you just don’t know when someone might be in need. I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, and it’s just nice to make someone’s holiday a little brighter.”