STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The oldest African American Baptist church on Staten Island, St. Philips Baptist Church, a cornerstone of the Port Richmond community for 155 years, opened its doors on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to provide an early holiday dinner to Staten Islanders in need during the church\u2019s annual Night of Serving.<\/p>\n
The church\u2019s community fellowship event attracted more than 150 visitors who enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal complete with all the traditional dishes. <\/p>\n
The feast featured a variety of foods, much of which was donated and prepared by church members. The menu included turkey, ham, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, mac and cheese, cornbread, and a wide assortment of desserts.<\/p>\n
The day focused on partnership, with church parishioners volunteering to serve, clean and prepare meals for the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday exemplifies what ministry is all about. It\u2019s meeting the needs of the community in which you serve, and we try our best to serve everybody,\u201d said Rev. Dr. Tony Baker Sr., who has been the pastor of St. Philips Baptist Church<\/a> for 30 years.<\/p>\n Baker explained, \u201cWe began planning for this, our 15th annual Night of Serving, more than two months ago. Every ethnicity, every gender, every race, whoever desires to have a Thanksgiving meal is welcome to this event.\u201d<\/p>\n Members of the Staten Island Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, former State Senator Diane Savino, and Rev. Baker\u2019s wife, Hyon, joined the church\u2019s dedicated volunteers in serving meals.<\/p>\n Hanks shared that St. Philips Baptist Church was her childhood church. \u201cThanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it incorporates community food and fellowship, and St. Philip\u2019s has always been that for me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a church that has taught me about community, about faith, and about giving back. Sharing and breaking bread with the community is just an unbelievable experience. It\u2019s a privilege and an honor, always,\u201d added Hanks.<\/p>\n John Martin, a 73-year-old from Port Richmond, volunteered to work in the kitchen, cooking and preparing food.<\/p>\n He explained his motivation as \u201cA second chance at life, which drives him to do his best.\u201d<\/p>\n While he acknowledges that serving people can be frustrating, he ultimately finds it to be a good and rewarding experience to help his community.<\/p>\n Assemblymember Charles D. Fall, who stopped by to visit with guests and staff, said, \u201cSt. Philips Baptist Church, under the leadership of Rev. Tony Baker, does incredible work for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Fall praised Baker by saying, \u201cHe\u2019s a uniter, not a divider. He brings people together from all walks of life, and I think that\u2019s what you see every single year at this event.\u201d<\/p>\n St. George resident Elaine \u201cSmittie\u201d Smith, who turns 84 next week, was among those who volunteered at the event.<\/p>\n \u201cTo see people get to sit down and have a meal when you\u2019re not sure if they would have gotten a meal is a blessing. It\u2019s a blessing for us to see it, and it\u2019s a blessing for them to receive it,\u201d said Smith, who worked at the former Willowbrook State School for 30 years.<\/p>\n Savino, who was seen serving meals nonstop, hardly had time to speak with the Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some of the people that came in today, this will really be the only Thanksgiving dinner that they will have,\u201d Savino explained. <\/p>\n \u201cI see the people that are coming in here, they\u2019re from all walks of life, and different nationalities. This is not Port Richmond, this is Staten Island.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though I\u2019m no longer an elected official, I\u2019m always coming back to help participate in this day of giving.\u201d<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The oldest African American Baptist church on Staten Island, St. Philips Baptist Church, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-49011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}