Trinity Oaks will hold food drive

Fill that bus!

On Jan. 19, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, residents of the Trinity Oaks Retirement Community in Salisbury will take the lead in organizing a food drive for Rowan Helping Ministries.

The residents are going to park one of the small Trinity Oaks buses on their campus and urge the community to fill it with food.

The Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks, Abundant Living Adult Day Services and the Lutheran Services for the Aging offices also will help in the food drive.

"Lutheran Services for the Aging has had the good fortune to be invited to be a part of the Obama-Biden Inauguration by providing opportunities for volunteerism on Martin Luther King Day, the National Day of Service," said Mary Ann Johnson, director of community and foundation relations.

"True to form, staff and residents chose to be the volunteers rather than the recipients and have created a number of volunteer opportunities for the community."

Volunteers are needed to contribute canned goods and other items to "fill that bus," which will be parked on the Trinity Oaks campus Jan. 19. For more information, contact Johnson at 704-754-8224.

In Albemarle, the Lutheran Home staff and residents will prepare and serve the meal at the local soup kitchen.

"The residents feel blessed, at a time when others are worried about their homes and employment that they have a warm, wonderful home and loving people to help them," Johnson said. "They would love to have additional volunteers to help them serve and clean up."

Volunteers also can drop off canned goods for the soup kitchen's food pantry.

Residents at Lutheran Services facilities in Arden, Hickory and Winston-Salem also have events planned to help the community.

"The older adults of the LSA ministries frequently benefit from 'good deeds done' and are always eager for the chance to thank the communities in which they live by giving back through community service," Johnson said.

"Whether it is the more active adults of the retirement centers or the frail older adults of the nursing homes, residents, participants and staff enjoy the opportunity to serve."