Seniors, homeless served Christmas breakfast in Lanett
BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — Pilgrim Baptist Church on North 12th Avenue hosted a free Christmas morning breakfast for senior citizens and homeless members of the community, continuing a long-standing family tradition of service rooted in faith and compassion.
The event was organized by Associate Minister the Rev. Lisa Askew-Fleetion and her sister, Janice Carnley, through their Heart to Heart Ministries in partnership with Pilgrim Baptist Church. Askew-Fleetion said serving those in need has been a calling passed down from their parents, Annie Ruth Askew and Orte Askew Jr.
“Janice and I — we do something every year to commemorate our mom and dad,” Askew-Fleetion said. “Their birthdays were Dec. 19 and Dec. 28, and our parents raised us to care about those who did not have. Before they passed, we were already going to Atlanta regularly, taking food and clothes, coats, hats, gloves and care packets.”
That tradition continued this Christmas, inspired by what Askew-Fleetion described as a moment of prayer and reflection while traveling earlier in the season.
“I was seeking God and asked, ‘Lord, what would you have us do this year?’” she said. “And He said, ‘Give me 10% of your Christmas Day.’ I thought about it and realized I had never woken up on Christmas without a big breakfast — that my mama always cooked.”
From that inspiration, the sisters decided to serve breakfast to seniors who might be alone and to homeless individuals in the area. In addition to the meal, coats, blankets and care packages were distributed to those in need.
“You could come here to the church and have breakfast,” Askew-Fleetion said. “But we also loaded plates and took them into the community — to the projects and to people we knew were out. Anywhere we saw someone standing, we stopped.”
Askew-Fleetion said the needs within the local community have grown over the years.
“When we first started this about 10 years ago, there were very few homeless people in our area,” she said. “Now, we see them like they do in Atlanta. There are people on the interstate.”
Senior citizens, she said, face their own challenges, including limited income and rising costs for utilities and food. Pilgrim Baptist Church operates a food pantry to help meet those needs through its Brown Bag Ministry, which distributes food every third week.
“They’re living on fixed incomes,” Askew-Fleetion said. “Sometimes they need help with lights, heating and air or food. We try to be there for them.”
At the heart of the Christmas breakfast, she said, was addressing loneliness and reminding people they are not forgotten.
“They are lonely,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just somebody checking on them. That’s what Christmas Day was about — to say we care, that Jesus loves you and that you are not alone. Everybody needs to feel special at Christmas. We should do it all year, but we have to start somewhere.”
