Churches honor essential workers
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WHEELING -- Hundreds of essential workers in the Ohio Valley were honored with a meal Thursday as part of the annual "Honor Our Heroes" program, put together by the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple of Wheeling and Shiloh Apostolic Faith Assembly of Weirton.
As part of the celebration, between 200 and 300 front line workers in the Wheeling and Weirton areas received spaghetti meals from Undo's Restaurants or personal pizzas from Domino's Pizza.
The Rev. Darrell Cummings, senior pastor for both churches, said they have been having their "Honor Our Heroes" celebration for police officers, firefighters, and the sheriff's department for close to 30 years in Wheeling and 15 years in Weirton. He said they normally invite local veterans, law enforcement officers and firefighters to the church and have a special presentation and prayer for those in attendance, including a small gift for each honoree.
Yet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were only able to invite local veterans during Nov. 29 services at both churches.
As part of the annual event, the churches and pastor wanted to do something to reach out to law enforcement officers, firefighters, and staff at the several local hospitals to honor the frontline workers for their service during this pandemic.
Workers with Wheeling Hospital's emergency room, Reynolds Memorial Critical Care Unit, Weirton Medical Center's emergency room and Trinity Health System (East Campus - Skilled Care Unit) were all recipients of meals Thursday. The meals were also provided for Wheeling's seven fire stations, the Wheeling Police Department and Ohio County Sheriff Department and Weirton's fire station and police headquarters.
The Hancock County Sheriff's Department will receive their dinner this Thursday as part of the celebration. More than 150 first responders and over 100 hospital front line workers are being served meals as part of the special event.
Cummings and his wife, the coordinators for this project, thanked Nick Sparchane of Undo's and Morgan Lacefield of Domino's Pizza for helping them to honor the community's heroes.