Thank you for supporting dinner

To the editor:

The Thanksgiving dinner for the community was just amazing.

The committee didn’t know how many folks to plan for, so it rounded it out at 400. But as time got closer, we kept getting indications that we needed to be prepared for more. So, we increased our food, bought enough carry-out containers for 500-plus and hoped that would be enough.

We realized there was the possibility we would run out of food before the serves had a chance to eat but all agreed to go with the flow.

As The Commercial Review said, vehicles were lined up on all sides of the church for the entire block.

At 11:30 a.m., we “hit the ground running.” Meals were dished up, young people ran them upstairs to be bagged, volunteers took orders from the drive-thru and portions were placed in the trunks of hungry individuals’ cars. Serving time was to go until 1:30 p.m.

At 12:30 p.m., we were grabbing extra cans of green beans to warm in the microwave, had a partial pan of turkey left and two pans of dressing and thought we had really undershot the event when, lo and behold, the shout came from upstairs that there were no more cars in the parking lot.

What? No more cars by 12:30 p.m.?

But, sure enough, no one else was waiting for a meal. We had served 525 meals in one hour. Just a couple more cars came before 1:30 p.m. and we had two show up just before 2 p.m. Everyone who wanted a meal received one, including the hardworking volunteers.

This would not have been possible without the help of this entire community. Service clubs, churches, organizations, businesses and individuals all donated generously so a meal could be provided for all of our friends and neighbors.

Thanks to all of you, we were able to give warm food and hope to a hurting world. We truly have much for which to be thankful.

With a grateful heart,

Carol Smith

Community Thanksgiving Dinner Committee