ORLANDO, Fla. — With Thanksgiving just hours away, many across Central Florida are helping families make sure they have food on the table.
What You Need To Know
- Pine Hills Pastor Rosemarie Roth has been helping people in Central Florida for more than 20 years
- She was working this week to make sure those in need were able to have food on their Thanksgiving tables
- Related: Food bank helps fill Thanksgiving tables during tough times
One local pastor, however, is doing even more.
Rosemarie Roth can be seen volunteering at seven churches around Central Florida on any given week. If you were to ask her what she is thankful for this Thanksgiving, she’d tell you she's glad to be able to help others.
Inside a food distribution site hosted by the End Time Sabbath Worship Center, Roth is like a magnet attracting people. Everyone knows her, wants to hug her, wants to chat with her, and all she wants to do is figure out what she can do for them.
“There’s a need, human need,” the Silver Star Christian Church outreach pastor said while helping a family pick out zucchini. “If we can help someone to lighten their load, yes.”
If anyone needs their load lightened, it’s Roth. She walks with a 5-foot stick that is nearly as tall as she is. The pastor recently had a hip replacement surgery, as well as work done on both of her shoulders.
“Lifting boxes and transporting boxes,” Roth said, explaining what caused the injuries. “I wore out my hip and my two shoulders.”
It’s not just distributing food to her community she helps with. She also teaches children how to grow a garden at the Silver Star Christian Church, and volunteers her services to both funerals and weddings. Her impact has been felt all over Central Florida.
“I don’t want to count,” Roth said when asked how many people she has helped over the years. “If I count I might expect something back in return, I don’t want to count.”
Not only is she helping families prepare a meal with food for the table this week, at her church in Pine Hills she is also donating body lotion to the homeless because of the cold weather.
It’s no surprise that Thanksgiving is her favorite day of the year.
“It is my favorite holiday because, guess what? I am able to offer food, break the bread, Jesus sat with his disciples and broke bread,” Roth said.
For more than 20 years Roth has been helping people in Central Florida, and said no injury will stop her from her life’s mission, which is just to help as many people as she can.
For Roth to be able to do all that she does, she teamed up with other churches, including End Time Sabbath Worship Center and the Human Crisis Center.