Written by Kerri Pankratz
Reprinted from Henderson News
HENDERSON — As the calendar creeps closer and closer toward Thanksgiving, thoughts in our little town start turning toward The Canner. Specifically the thoughts of Jay Dee Janzen who has been in charge of the MCC Meat Canner for the past 15 years.
If you are a regular attendee at Bethesda Mennonite Church, you have grown accustomed to his weekly pleas for help. A few weeks ago, I watched from the choir loft as he hustled through the choir door, his robe flapping in the breeze as he kicked up on his way down to the pulpit. His chosen tactic for the week was to remind the congregation that if they liked to eat… and who doesn’t?…. there would be plenty of free food available throughout each day.
He is not wrong, as I know of at least one person who came from getting her mail and had to put in a quick emergency phone call to Jill for two dozen apple prieska. Luckily Jill (Weisheit) of Two Bakers, had room in her schedule and even offered delivery to the church!
You would have to live under a large rock in our tiny town not to know what the Canner is, but if you are living under said rock or are new to the community, let me give you a little background.
Struck by the needs and devastation in postwar Europe, supporters of the Mennonite Central Committee wanted to respond by giving of the bounty they had from their farms and businesses. The ministry grew from a tradition of canning vegetables, fruit, and meat that sustained their families through the winter.
Innovative Mennonites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and Hesston, Kansas, built large portable canneries that were taken between homes and churches. Volunteers donated animals and provided labor to can the meat.
Today MCC’s mobile meat canner travels across the U.S. every year, stopping at various locations where volunteers gather to prepare cans of turkey, beef, chicken and pork to be sent around the world. Over 30,000 people a year volunteer to fill, weigh, wash and label every can.
Last year, 574,560 lbs. of canned meat was shipped to countries like Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, South Sudan, Ukraine, Zambia, and the U.S., including Puerto Rico. In refugee camps in Ethiopia, a lack of sufficient food sources leaves many young children malnourished. MCC’s canned turkey and chicken help combat undernutrition for 6,000 children under 2 years of age.
The Canner has been a part of Henderson since the 1940s and wasn’t always located at the church. In years past it has moved around from people’s farms to even Main Street.
While scrolling through the photos on his phone Jay Dee shared several that Raygene Ratzlaff brought to The Canner last year. The black and white images show The Canner set up next door to what is now The Hatchery and was at that time The Henderson Hatchery, in an empty lot which appears to be the spot in which I’m currently sitting and writing this article… Service Press. There was no actual date on the photos but in typical male fashion, Jay Dee could tell the era by the vehicles makes and models … not sure which part of a man’s mind stores that information away, but it’s generally encyclopedic in nature.
He also recalled a time when both Bethesda and the Mennonite Brethren Church (Living Hope) had canners going at the same time. Halves of beef were brought into the MB basement via a window and then butchered and the Bethesda Fellowship Hall was filled with butchering tables from one end of the room to the other.
Things have definitely changed. Instead of beef, there are currently 26,000 pounds of chicken en route to Henderson, and this year’s Canner schedule is also a bit different from the year’s past. They will be canning for more days, but shorter days, and along with promising us all free food, Jay Dee has pledged to find a job for every single person who shows up, from grinding meat to breaking down boxes. To processing meat in the truck and wiping down and labeling cans there’s work for all ages, and all ages are encouraged to attend. Ideally, he would like 50 to 100 people each day to make sure everything runs smoothly.
The Canner truck will arrive at Bethesda Mennonite Church on Thursday, November 21, and set up will begin. Again, as many volunteers as possible are needed for set up.
As a junior high and high schooler I remember classmates talking of volunteering at the Canner before school. Before school! Like at six in the morning!!? I, being of the Night Owl variety at even that young of an age, could not comprehend of such a thing. But the tradition stands today as the first of the daily “runs” is scheduled for 6 a.m. on Friday, November 22.
Canning will then take place on Saturday, November 23 and then again on Monday, November 25 and Tuesday, November 26. Ample opportunities to get an early morning volunteer session or two in.
Four canning “runs” are planned for each day, normally at 6 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1:30 p.m., depending on how each canning process goes.
Be sure to follow the Bethesda Mennonite MCC Meat Canning page on Facebook to stay up to date on when canning is scheduled throughout the day and for a more detailed rundown of each canning day.
Our community has a rich tradition of giving back that has gone on for decades, as evidenced by the accompanying photos I recently dug up in the Henderson’s News Archives. Things may have looked a little different back in the day, but the cause is still the same. So here’s hoping the turnout is so great Jay Dee runs out of jobs to hand out, and he can keep his most recent “pulpit promise” of everyone relaxing at home in their recliners by 8 p.m. each night of the Canner.
