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Grapevine Center serves nearly 100 at annual Thanksgiving meal

Rich Blews serves turkey at the Grapevine Center
Rich Blews, program director for the Grapevine Center, serves turkey Monday, Nov. 20, at an annual dinner the agency has for the community. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle

The Grapevine Center has hosted an annual community Thanksgiving dinner for years, and on Monday, Nov. 20, some of the attendees of this year’s dinner helped return the favor.

“We had consumers who brought their own dessert to share with everybody,” said Rich Blews, program director at the Grapevine Center. “That was pretty cool; we didn't ask anybody to bring anything, but they just did.”

According to Blews, the Grapevine Center partnered with Catholic Charities to give a Thanksgiving meal to more than 90 people on Monday. He said the organization has collected more than 2,000 turkeys over the past two years, so no one leaves the annual Thanksgiving meal at the Grapevine Center empty-handed.

Partnering with Catholic Charities also helped get even more food to the people in attendance.

“Catholic Charities had 16 boxes of stuffing, gigantic things of mashed potatoes, green beans, the whole nine,” Blews said. “It was really cool that they wanted to do something outside of the realm and collaborate to do something like this.”

Blews said many clients of the Grapevine Center also help cook and serve food anytime the agency has a meal, and staff of the center and Catholic Charities helped with it Monday. Serving clients of the Grapevine Center and Catholic Charities meals like the one the center hosted Monday also helps the agencies’ get their messages out to people who may need their services, Blew said.

“It's just a wide variety of folks,” Blews said. “A lot of folks last night we had never seen at the Grapevine Center before.”

Hugh Miller eats a Thanksgiving dinner at the Grapevine Center
Hugh Miller eats a Thanksgiving dinner on Monday, Nov. 20, at the Grapevine Center. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
Kelly Blankenship ladles gravy on potatoes at the Grapevine Center
Kelly Blankenship ladles gravy on potatoes Monday, Nov. 20, during a community Thanksgiving dinner at the Grapevine Center. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
Desert table at the Grapevine Center
The Grapevine Center and Catholic Charities partnered Monday, Nov. 20, to give people a community Thanksgiving dinner, complete with desserts including pumpkin pie. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle

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