Community Thanksgiving returning to sit-down event
The Thanksgiving Day meals that were once given to people in takeout containers and boxes at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church will this year be distributed on plates in the church hall.
Sue Cadwallader, a volunteer who helps coordinate the Thanksgiving community meal, said the people who organize the annual giveaway are not offering takeout this year, and it will be returning to its roots as a free sit-down meal.
“It started as a community dinner probably in the 1990s,” Cadwallader said. “We are opening up the dining room; we are strictly a community dinner this time.”
For more than 20 years, volunteers from Butler area churches and the community at large have come together to prepare more than 1,000 meals for a special Thanksgiving dinner, according to the All Saints Parish’s website. Cadwallader said volunteers always help gather donations and food to serve at the community dinners, and anything that goes unused is put into the supply for the regular community dinners.
Cadwallader said the Thanksgiving meal has been seeing good support already.
“We're doing quite well; donations are coming in quite nicely,” she said. “Anything that was donated goes back into the community, St. Vincent de Paul or the community dinners. The money that is donated after we pay some necessary bills goes back out into the area dinners that are held daily.”
The meal on Nov. 23 will still consist of food items typical of Thanksgiving, like cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, beans and, of course, turkey. Cadwallader said the takeout meals have served hundreds of people each Thanksgiving, but the volunteers are not sure how many people will attend the sit-down meal, since it is the first one in several years.
Cadwallader said anyone is welcome to attend the community Thanksgiving meal, which is from noon to 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at St. Peter Church.
“They just come, show up to eat,” Cadwallader said. “It's about feeding people who need meals.”
