Good Shepherd to Host Interfaith Thanksgiving Tuesday

Like other faith communities around Plainview, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church has answered the call for help from neighbors in need from Hurricane Sandy's destruction.

It began when the Rev. Eric Olsen, Good Shepherd's pastor, opened his church to people without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm. The church served as a sanctuary for those who needed warmth and food. Most recently, Good Shepherd's youth ministry traveled to the Staten Island and Oceanside, delivering about 1,000 pounds of needed items to those devastated communities.

Now more than ever, says Olsen, is a time for Thanksgiving.

"This is a good time to give thanks, especially after Sandy," Pastor Olsen said.

The Plainview-area Interfaith Council will hold a communal Thanksgiving service Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Good Shepherd, located on Central Park Road just south of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School. A reception will follow the service.

Rabbi David Ross Senter, spiritual leader of the Manetto Hill Jewish Center, will deliver the sermon. A wide range of the Plainview area's faith community is expected to attend Tuesday night. The entire community is invited.

So many area churches and community groups have risen to the occasion in the storm's aftermath.

Senter's congregation had power shortly after the storm and opened its doors to the public. The Plainview Jewish Center, when its power was restored, was able to invite the public in for refuge. There, Rabbi Steven Conn and his family camped out during the outages and welcomed those in need.

Some churches and synagogues lost power for more than a week, including Temple Beth Elohim and Temple Chaverim, but their members found ways to pitch in with clean-up efforts, food and clothing drives and basic moral support. There was the community meal cooked by Cantor Bradley Hyman and friends on Nov. 12., and Temple Chaverim members baked challah for Shabbat for residents of Long Beach, Oceanside, the Rockaways and the Five Towns on Nov. 14.

There are so many stories of charity in the Plainview-Old Bethpage community. We want to acknowledge all of them. We are compiling a list of local groups that provided charitable works in the aftermath of Sandy.

Pastor Olsen said the purpose of such a list is "not to take credit but to serve as an inspiration to others to do more and work toward a common goal."

We agree: Please send an email to joe.dowd@patch.com offering a brief synopsis of your group's efforts. The rebuilding will go on for some time. Patch will stay with the story.