Mason Menell, left, and Kelly Zaccari are both longtime volunteers for the All Saints Parish Thanksgiving community meal distributions, which gave out almost 1,200 meal packs to families across Butler County this year. EDDIE TRIZZINO/BUTLER EAGLE 11/24/2022

A traditional Thanksgiving song says, “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing,” and those blessings show up in the flesh year after year to offer a hearty holiday meal to those in Butler who are alone or who wouldn’t otherwise enjoy a turkey dinner.

Kelly Zaccari, organizer of the Butler Thanksgiving Community Dinner at First United Methodist Church on East North Street, and her core group of helpers, Mason Menell, Loren Gold and Bill and Joyce Knass, go to any lengths necessary each year to do the work that provides the needy and the lonely a tasty dinner on Thanksgiving.

Zaccari and her trusty crew spend weeks gathering ingredients and supplies, storing them at St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church, preparing the meal there, then toting the meal to First United Methodist Church on East North Street for distribution and serving.

Zaccari said individual meals, which are prepared by volunteers, are packed into cold and hot packs by dozens of volunteers, and driven by still other volunteers to all senior citizen high-rise apartment buildings in Butler, all Butler Meals on Wheels clients, some smaller nursing homes, and to individual homes where the resident is unable to cook or is alone on Thanksgiving.

She said the camaraderie shared by delivery drivers is every bit as important to those receiving the nutritious and tasty meal as the meal itself.

Zaccari said she got started volunteering with the Butler Thanksgiving Community Dinner when asked by Menell many years ago to help out as a driver.

Zaccari spent many years volunteering at the dinner, but eventually moved to the south, where she lived for more than 6 years.

When she returned to Butler County, Zaccari didn’t hesitate to jump right back in with both feet to provide the vital Thanksgiving dinners.

And she eschews praise for her work, instead praising the community collaboration seen in preparing the meals.

The Butler Eagle feels it is high time to publicly thank Zaccari and her crew for all the hard work each year in providing our more unfortunate neighbors with a hot and delicious meal — along with a helping of love — on Thanksgiving.

As Zaccari said, it’s important that everyone have something to feel thankful for on Thanksgiving.

This year, the Eagle feels grateful for Zaccari and her helpers, so from all of us here at the newspaper and from the 1,200 mouths you work so hard to feed each year, we say “Thank you,” and a very happy and healthy holiday season to you and yours.

— PG