Turns out it wasn’t about the turkey.

When refrigeration failed leading up to St. Wendelin School’s turkey dinner fundraiser, the community stepped up for the Catholic elementary school in Oakland Township.

The 38th annual turkey dinner didn’t feature its namesake dish or many of the sides that needed to be kept cold after a malfunctioning refrigerator seemed to ruin the plans for the fundraiser, but instead the event featured the community that came together despite the adversity.

The day started with an apology posted to the school’s Facebook page.

“The safety and health of our families is important to us, and we will not compromise anyone by serving food that may be unsafe,” the post said. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

The post indicated the bake sale would still be held at the church hall until 2 p.m. and that basket raffle tickets would be sold with the drawing at another event next month.

But the community showed up — and not just for the bake sale. The event ended up raising more than $15,000 for the school’s tuition assistance fund. The equivalent of at least 1,500 meals were purchased by a handful of donors, Eagle staff writer Eddie Trizzino reported Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Sunday’s event showed that the community — families of the school, the church and beyond — don’t support the turkey dinner only for a quality meal. Their support for the oldest school in the Diocese of Pittsburgh runs much deeper than that.

The turkey dinner and so many of the other fundraisers held at St. Wendelin School show just how much the community appreciates its presence — so much so that they’ll support a turkey dinner without turkey.

— TL