The COVID pandemic has sadly canceled Rosa Wims’ annual Thanksgiving event for a second consecutive year, but nonetheless, “Mother Wims” still wants to give back to the community she loves!

Wims is partnering with Foodlink and the Southwest Area Neighborhood (S.W.A.N.) to distribute festive, frozen holiday meals-to-go on Nov. 11 at the Montgomery Neighborhood Center. Wims, who turns 99 next month, will visit the center in the morning to view some of the recent improvements made to the facility, including the new wall art/outdoor mural created by Eder Muniz. The mural is the most public representation of the many renovations S.W.A.N. has undergone since Tiffany Owens took over as the Center’s new Executive Director in October of 2020. The public is encouraged to stop by between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to pick up meals to take home.

Wims is well known around Rochester for her fierce advocacy for public health and giving back to the community. She founded the Faith Community Health Awareness Center on Genesee Street, which was named in her honor, the Rosa Wims Family Wellness Center. For more than 35 years, Rosa has hosted a Thanksgiving meal for her neighbors in collaboration with Foodlink.