Thanksgiving community meals: Parishes spread a table and invite their neighbors in
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It takes a lot of turkeys to fill thousands of Thanksgiving Day plates.
And they don’t cook themselves.
“It takes an army of volunteers, with a few extraordinary servant leaders, to pull off that monumental effort, and they make it look very easy,” noted Father Matthew Flatley, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City.
His parish, along with St. Anthony Parish in Camdenton and St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Sedalia, opened their doors to the community and brought warm meals and tidings to their doorsteps.
“The grace flows; the grace of mercy and charity and abundant Thanksgiving!” he stated. “The entire day is a tremendous manifestation of God’s hope and trust in his goodness.”
“It is a banquet that points our gaze toward the Ultimate Banquet that we all hope to attend for eternity in heaven,” he stated.
Camdenton
St. Anthony Parish in Camdenton hosted its 19th annual Free Thanksgiving Day Dinner for people who would enjoy having a holiday meal with others.
Four hundred thirty-nine people enjoyed turkey, all the trimmings and warm fellowship in the St. Anthony Parish Hall.
Organizers worked to get the word out to people who are homebound, homeless and anyone who is alone or would simply like to be with others on Thanksgiving Day.
Volunteered delivered 95 meals to people who are homebound in the Camdenton and the Macks Creek areas.
Sedalia
St. Vincent de Paul Parish of Pettis County served over 1,200 meals during its Thanksgiving Dinners for Those in Need ministry event.
Father Joseph Corel, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, said the people of what was then St. Patrick Parish in Sedalia established this tradition about 40 years ago.
“Legend has it, they served about 50 meals that first year,” he noted. “That’s gone up quite a bit over the years.”
In an echo of the Eucharist, the St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving Meal is a matter of “us giving thanks to God for all our brothers and sisters in the community,” said Fr. Corel.
“We recognize we’re all one in the body of Christ, and we all have inherent dignity,” he stated. “You want everyone to be recognized, appreciated and have a good meal on this very important day.”
Fr. Corel offered up prayers of thanksgiving for the community of faith being able to serve up food and hospitality to so many people.
“We give thanks to God for allowing us to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ through coming together to serve these meals,” he said.
That included 250 meals for the Pettis County Jail.
Two serving lines were set up to feed people in the parish hall in St. Patrick Chapel.
Organizers set up 45 delivery routes, not including delivery to the jail.
More than 350 volunteers — including more than 50 candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation, members of the parish youth group, and adults who baked 500 dozen cookies and made cards — made the event possible.
There were also 15 junior high and high school girls basketball team members, along with their coaches bagging cookies, bread, and cards to go with each meal.
Ten parishioners and Sacred Heart School National Junior Honors Society members filled cranberry sauce packets.
Nine volunteers cooked and sliced the turkey, 15 answered the phone to take orders for delivery, and at least eight prepared mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing and gravy.
Forty volunteers worked the serving lines, with five others running food to them from the kitchen.
Four volunteers fulfilled pick-up orders, while six got the route bags ready to go out.
Three volunteers washed the dishes.
At least 10 volunteers planned and organized the ministry event, and more than 20 stayed around to clean up and put everything back in order.
More than 100 volunteers delivered meals to the homes of people who requested it.
The total number of volunteer hours for the entire event was in excess of 1,000.
The event required more than 100 hours of planning, beginning with initial meetings in September.
Preparations to warm and serve the previously cooked food started at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, and clean-up was done by 12:30 p.m.
The first delivery went out at 10 a.m., with the last one leaving at 11:20 a.m.
“Thank you, everyone, who made this happen again this year,” said Fr. Corel. “It only happens because so many parishioners say ‘yes’ and help.”
Jefferson City
Immaculate Conception Parish served more than 1,200 meals at two locations this year during its 15th annual Thanksgiving Day Meal.
About 450 people donate food, money and/or time for the event.
This included about 550 pounds of roast turkey, more than 900 pounds of yams and around 400 pounds of corn.
Volunteers led by Michael and Cindy Schnieders roasted 53 large turkeys, averaging more than 20 pounds apiece.
Cargill donated 46 of the turkeys.
A handful of volunteers cooked the turkeys the Sunday before Thanksgiving — using 14 ovens and 14 roasters.
People were in and out of the kitchen, setting up, cooking, cleaning up and putting away on the days that followed.
Sixteen years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Schnieders helped serve dinner at the Salvation Army in Jefferson City and realized that there would be great demand for the same service in the neighborhood of Immaculate Conception Church.
They organized the parish’s first Thanksgiving Meal 15 years ago.
About 50 people attended.
A wise woman told them that for too many people, transportation was unavailable on a holiday or would cost too much.
Home deliveries began the following year.
Right away, the parish truly embraced the project and made it a tradition.
“Immaculate Conception parish is an incredible parish,” said Mr. Schnieders. “You put a project in front of them and they’re all over it.”
This year, volunteers served more than 1,120 meals, including more than 400 deliveries.
About 500 people took their meals to-go, and about 70 chose to dine-in.
Parishioner Audrey Kauffmann headed up a satellite meal operation in the Dulle-Hamilton Tower Apartments, serving about 100 meals to residents.
I.C. volunteers delivered meals to five local fire stations, the Cole County Sheriff’s Department, the Capitol Police, the Jefferson City Police Department and the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center and to hospital Emergency Room staff.
Delivery volunteers also drove around the city, looking for people to give meals to.
Why do they do this?
“I guess because we are called to do it,” said Mr. Schnieders.
Mrs. Schnieders noted that people, including entire families, return each year to help out.
“I hear people say, ‘This is my favorite thing about Thanksgiving — delivering meals and helping make this work,’” she noted.
She even heard one person say: “This is my favorite thing I.C. does all year around.”
“It has become a tradition at I.C. for families to come and help a few hours and donate to the cause,” Mr. Schnieders noted.
“Just do it”
Mr. and Mrs. Schnieders are convinced that all of this is a “God thing.”
“I think it’s quite obvious that Jesus is in the room with us, and he lives in all of us,” Mr. Schnieders stated. “I think that’s what drives the people of I.C. to do such a neat project.”
“Father preaches it on Sunday, and I think the people of I.C. really take it to heart to help their neighbor,” he said.
“Whether it’s a fellow parishioner or someone in need who might need a meal.”
His advice to any parish or church group that would like to try serving a community Thanksgiving Day meal next year is: “Don’t be reluctant. Just to it.”
“Don’t get too worried about the details,” he said. “The Lord will help with the anxieties and needs, just jump in and do it.”
Mrs. Schnieders said anyone seeking a step-by-step plan for such an operation is welcome to contact the parish.
At the end of a busy Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Schnieders thanked God for the fellowship and joy of working shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow parishioners.
“And I thank God for helping us solve any problems we had, and trust him to continue helping us,” he said.
Kate Hodel, Jennifer Cordia and Leah Pickering contributed to this report.
