Over a month ago, volunteers at Grace’s Kitchen started preparing for its annual Thanksgiving meal. This year, they expected to serve around 600 people.
Inside St. Barnabas Episcopal Church the morning of Thanksgiving Day was crowded with volunteers, all doing their part to make the meal come together.
They worked in an assembly line to construct the “traditional Thanksgiving meal” of turkey, stuffing, hearty green beans and a sweet potato crisp, said Chris Snyder, who cooks the meal with his family.
“It’s a real community effort,” said Snyder. “I’m always impressed with how people put down their own plates and help others pick up theirs.”
Snyder said his family first got involved about seven years ago – when just over 200 people came for the Thanksgiving meal – after seeing a photo of prepackaged dinner rolls in the paper.
“We started out with donating fresh, homemade bread, and it evolved from there,“ Snyder said.
They’re now the lead cooks of the operation, and his sister is Mona Makes on Facebook, who’s well known for making tasty food in the Cortez area.
As for desserts, since “no Thanksgiving is complete without pie,” there were long, rectangular folding tables stacked with small takeout boxes, four high or higher, with pie inside.
Writing on the containers gave away the flavors- some read “apple crumb,” “pecan,” or “chr” for cherry.
Victoria Atkins, a volunteer, recalled how just a week ago, they didn’t have enough pies.
“We had 50, and we needed closer to 80,” Atkins said.
The community came out, she said, and a lot of people brought in pies so they ultimately met their goal.
Plus, Walmart donated a dozen or more, and intends to donate pies again next year.
Beside the desserts, stacks of hundreds of small containers of cranberry sauce sat stacked and ready to go.
“There’s some (volunteers) here from our congregation, but a lot are people from the wider community,” said The Rev. Douglas Bleyle, rector of the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.
Atkins said that a month prior, on Sunday morning, volunteers had started preparing the turkey. After Mass, people stayed to help debone and clean turkeys.
Many moons later, the hard work paid off: They ended up with 201.5 pounds of turkey, which works out to be about 30 birds.
In addition to the turkey, in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, teams of eight or 12 volunteers got together to package pickles and olives, and to cut pies, too.
“Oh, and a big thank you to the Farm Bistro; they made the potatoes,” Bleyle said.
Once the meals were assembled inside, they were brought outside to a table of volunteers that served community members directly.
Near the pickup line, at a table in the sun, Mark Westbrook enjoyed his Thanksgiving meal across from Amanda Lofkins, who was bringing meals home to her family.
“It’s a really good meal,” Westbrook said in between bites. “They’re a really good group that volunteers their time. They do an outstanding job.”
Lofkins agreed, and said she was most excited for the cranberries.
“It’s nice because some people are lonely on the holidays,” said Lofkins. “It’s nice they’re always here.”
And even on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; they’re always there, serving hot meals, she said.
“The holiday isn’t so bad when you have the community,” Lofkins said.
Raleigh Cato, who’s volunteered time the past four years to help put together the Thanksgiving meal, said the community is precisely why she keeps coming back.
“St. Barnabas is a place to gather. People show up from everywhere; it’s the most fulfilling thing,” Cato said.
After a month of preparing, the meal came together and everything went “smooth,” Rector said.
“You don’t have to be homeless to come eat, you just need to be hungry,” Atkins said.
