News reports from Amityville, New York; the American Cancer Society, It Is Written, Rideout Memorial Hospital and Buckinghamshire, England:

Bethesda Seventh-day Adventist Church in Amityville, New York, served 2,000 meals to those in need for Thanksgiving today. The meals were delivered to shelters, motels and other locations across Long Island and Brooklyn. Pastor Roy Kirton started the program 25 years ago. At the time it served 35 meals.

EurekaAlert! is one of many publications reporting on a recent study that found lower rates of premature death and cancer in Seventh-day Adventists when compared to the overall US population. The study was originally published early in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. It showed a similar trend when comparing Black Adventists in the country to the larger black population. For Adventists in general, there was a 33% lower rate of death from any cause, as well as a 30% lower incidence of all cancers when compared to the overall population.

North American Division media ministry It is Written held a ribbon-cutting event for its new building in Collegedale, Tennessee, on November 22. The Adventist Review reports that the event drew a crowd of about 500. Speakers at the ceremony included It Is Written president John Bradshaw, Collegedale mayor Katie Lam, Southern Adventist University president David Smith, and North American Division church president Dan Jackson.

Patient safety ratings have continued to drop at a Northern California hospital recently acquired by Adventist Health. Despite having joined Adventist Health in March 2018, Rideout Memorial Hospital recently received a “D” grade in patient safety from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog in the industry. The hospital has attributed the low safety grade to a lag in data, stating that the data considered includes years that predate Adventist Health management.

Bucks Free Press announced that an Adventist congregation in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in the United Kingdom will open its doors to the elderly, lonely and vulnerable on Christmas Day this year. The Hope Community Seventh-day Adventist Church will provide a Christmas meal, live entertainment, gifts and more. Head elder Len Williams told the Bucks Free Press: “Christmas is a time where we know that there are probably thousands of people, mainly the elderly, who spend Christmas on their own.

“And if we can get them here and provide them with food and some nice entertainment – Hopefully we’re trying to make a difference.

“We’re trying to make an impact and make [a] difference within our community and when we renamed our church, we renamed it to Hope as we want to provide hope within our community.”

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