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WHEELING -- For the first time in three decades, the annual Easter food basket giveaway at Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in Wheeling is being postponed -- but not canceled, according to Pastor Darrell W. Cummings.
Originally scheduled for April 4, the event is being postponed on the advice of public health officials and local law enforcement agencies, Cummings said.
"We've been made to understand that it would not be in the public's interest to do it as we normally have," he said.
About 600 people received food baskets prior to last Easter, the pastor said. Distribution of food this year is considered especially important because of the number of people furloughed from their jobs or still working but with reduced hours, Cummings said.
"The people who are being laid off or don't have sick leave or are at the bottom of the ladder are probably the ones who are hurting the most," he said.
While some working men and women are able to perform many tasks remotely from home, that is not the case for many restaurant workers, Cummings said.
"You can't cook the hamburgers at the house."
In an effort to help local residents hit hard by COVID-19-related change, Bethlehem Temple is continuing to provide its weekly food pantry, the pastor said. It is available from 1-2 p.m. on Wednesdays, at the church, 330 Main St. in north Wheeling.
Plans are to hold the food basket giveaway at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 2 -- if circumstances allow it, Cummings said.
"Maybe it'll be the first time we do it for Mother's Day," he said. "Just trying to look on the good side."