“The story is, there’s this massive crowd, and they say ‘What do you have to feed them?’ and (Jesus’ disciples) didn’t have enough. (They) had some fish and some loaves, so Jesus prays, and says ‘Now go and serve them’ and the food never ended, it continued to multiply and multiply,” Mielnik said. “I truly believe, when people are blessed by God, they don’t want to keep it for themselves, they want to give it away.”

While seafood wasn’t on the menu for the 25th annual Altoona Thanksgiving Community Dinner, Mielnik — the lead pastor of Center City Church — and the team of volunteers, primarily drawn from Center City, managed to feed the crowd that stretched out the door and around the block on Tuesday night.

The annual dinner began at the Tyrone Armory as a collaboration with the Salvation Army in 1999. It moved to Center City’s newly renovated downtown building in 2017, before eventually outgrowing that space three years ago, necessitating a move to the larger Altoona Heritage Discovery Center on 12th Avenue.

Jennifer and Christopher Cook, of Cook’s Family Businesses, donated the space to Center City to use for the dinner, Mielnik said.

Nevaeh Ceballos, 10, shares a smile with her mother, Cindy Lunger, both of Altoona, as they eat their meals at the annual Altoona Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Tuesday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“The vision of this … we want to bless the city, and bless the community of Altoona,” Mielnik said. “We keep saying that Altoona is a city of hope, so we want to provide an opportunity for, not just people who are down on their luck, but the entire community to come together to share a meal together.”

There is no reserved seating in the banquet hall, so dinner attendees are encouraged to take a seat next to a stranger at one of the 25 or so tables in the room.

“The real goal is to sit at the table together, to share stories, to share backgrounds,” Mielnik said.

Dinner director Tonya Yeager is a member of the church, leading a team of 65 volunteers to set up the banquet hall and prepare the whole meal, which was donated by the Blair County Food Drive.

According to Yeager, her team used more than 700 pounds of ham and turkey, 200 pounds of potatoes, 40 pumpkin pies and 36 assorted desserts to prepare the Thanksgiving spread.

Ronald Keller of Altoona gets help from volunteer Andrea Carter of Bedford getting two dinners to go during the annual Altoona Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Tuesday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Volunteers pray in a circle prior to opening the doors at the Altoona Heritage Discovery Center. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Volunteers (from left) Wendy Wiles, Taylor Yeager, 15, and Olivia Wolfe, 15, all of Altoona cut and plate pumpkin pie at the Altoona Community Thanksgiving Dinner Tuesday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski