WESTERVILLE — The Westerville Area Resource Ministry, known as WARM, is preparing its 22nd annual Thanksgiving Blessing food drive, a drive-through giveaway on Saturday, Nov. 21, that organizers expect to put a full Thanksgiving dinner in the hands of more than 600 local families.
The ministry has run the event since 2004, and the need keeps growing, CityScene Magazine reported. WARM helped 471 families in 2021, and that number rose to more than 580 in 2025. “A couple times we’ve projected higher than what we actually get,” WARM executive director Chad Maxeiner told CityScene Magazine. “(This year), I would say probably 600 to 625 (families) would be realistic. It could be more.”
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, families who sign up will drive through a series of stops in the parking lot at WARM’s headquarters and collect everything needed to complete a holiday meal. “There’s everything (from) turkey, fresh produce, canned products and stuffing,” Maxeiner told CityScene Magazine.
Alongside the meal ingredients, each family receives a Blessing Bag with items such as brown sugar, cranberry sauce and baked beans, plus a small game — a puzzle or a deck of cards with game ideas — meant to give families time together around the table, and a prayer if they would like one, according to CityScene Magazine’s reporting.
Two of the most appreciated items are not food at all. In recent years WARM added a turkey baster and an aluminum foil roasting pan to each distribution after Maxeiner noticed both were hard to find close to the holiday. CityScene Magazine reported that organizers understood the difference the pan made when a client hugged a volunteer and, tearfully, said she often had nothing to cook a turkey in.
Neighbors who want to help can fill a grocery bag with the drive’s listed items — canned corn and green beans, brown sugar, cranberry sauce, gravy mix, chicken broth, baked beans, marshmallows, canned yams, stuffing and coffee — at a cost of roughly $30 to $40 per bag. Filled bags can be dropped off at WARM, 150 Heatherdown Dr. in Westerville, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 13, according to St. Paul the Apostle Church, one of the congregations collecting for the drive. A $40 donation covers a complete meal for one family, including pie, rolls, butter, turkey and fresh produce.
WARM serves the Westerville community year-round with food assistance, short-term financial help, employment coaching and mentoring, and the Thanksgiving Blessing is its signature holiday effort. Families who need a dinner this year, and residents who want to donate or volunteer, can reach WARM at (614) 899-0196 ahead of the Nov. 21 distribution.