Ray Bell Groveville History 6
29/November/2024
102nd THANKSGIVING BREAKFAST
Good morning. We welcome all of you today for attending our 102nd Thanksgiving Breakfast.
Before I talk about our breakfast, I will tell you about our church. This year we had messages given by our members. We talked about Heart Seeds, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, history about our church, Laity Day, about our past and present pastors from 1836 until today, and about our cemetery, which was called Sunnyland Cemetery, where 36 American Civil War veterans are laid to rest. Out of 36 veterans three were killed in action. Our church has a plaque hanging in the entrance with the veterans names and units.
Now a little history about our Thanksgiving breakfast that started in 1922, 102 years ago. The Pastor was Reverend Hubert Doran from 1920 to 1923. In 1917 during World War I, the town of Groveville built a community house for our town at a cost of $2800. The first floor was a big hall where we held our first Thanksgiving, breakfast, Harvest, Home dinners, a basketball court and a gym. In the rear was a large kitchen. The second floor was a large area, a stage for plays, showing movies on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday school classes.
In 1955 that building was torn down and replaced by this Educational Building in 1957 for $99,998. This building is now 67 years old. We have dinners, plays, craft shows, meetings, and other events . The second floor is a Daycare School. Years ago in the 1970s we had a very active group of teenagers who helped serve our Thanksgiving breakfast very early morning. Now our members of the church help to put this on.
Our church is open for anyone on Sunday mornings for our services starting at 11 AM. We have plenty of seating for you and your family. Come and hear a piano players and a small bit powerful choir and hear Reverend Clifton give his sermons. The great thing about coming to church, we love to sing and eat. After church, we have a small brunch and friendship time.
Now in closing, we thank you all for coming. God bless you, our veterans and all first responders. And God bless the United States of America, where we can still go to any church and pray any place and anytime.