CHESAPEAKE — Once again the churches in Chesapeake will join together for the annual ecumenical Thanksgiving celebration.

It will start at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at the Chesapeake Middle School. The event is a fund-raiser for the Community Mission Outreach that supports the food pantry at the Chesapeake Community Center.

“The theological foundation is that the Lord has asked us all to unite to be his body and to care for his little ones,” Father Charles Moran, pastor at St. Ann’s Church in Chesapeake, said. “We do it not because people are poor or because of our Christian heritage. We do it because Jesus asked us to.”

The village churches have united for this special service for the past six years and the offering taken provides food for Christmas dinners for area families. So far, 550 families have registered for the food, Moran said.

He expects to see an increase in food requests because of the slow recovery of the national economy.

“You see older people now because of their medical problems,” he said. “They have to choose between eating and medicine.”

Recently, attendance at past services has dropped off partly because of a problem with the sound system at the school, but that is supposed to have been corrected, Moran said.

The service will include a sermon by Daryl Fourman, pastor of Chesapeake United Methodist, presentations about CMO and holiday congregational singing.

There will be a fellowship gathering afterward.

“The primary focus of this is twofold,” Bill Flannery, pastor of Defender Methodist, said. “One is to encourage community involvement in corporate worship. This does cross denominational boundaries. And it also raises funds for the Community Mission Outreach. This is one of the primary fund-raisers for that mission. We undertook with this service to support this mission. We have had some good turnouts.

“This is a wonderful time of year to do this,” Flannery said.