Thanksgiving Feast

For Thanksgiving, Greg and I organized the Community Thanksgiving Meal, which is open to the entire community.  People are welcomed to bring their own dishes, but the main course is provided by donations from the community.  We reached out to the local businesses and they chose what to donate, whether that was food, monetary donations, or supplies we needed.  We then reached out and asked for volunteers to help set up, bake desserts, cook turkeys, help in the kitchen, and clean up.  On the day of the event, everything came together to for a successful celebration filled with gratitude and community connections. The entire day ran smoothly and I was so pleased with the how everything turned out.  We had about 200 sit down meals and about 50 meals to-go.  Many people took food home to those who couldn't make it out for various reasons.  We received lots of compliments and gratitude for our hard work, which was very rewarding.  Now that we've done it once, it'll be much easier the second time around!  The hardest part for me was reaching out to businesses and people I didn't know, since I'm new to town.  I've gotten to know the town a lot better and met a lot of great people.  There is something special about celebrating the holiday with people you don't know from around the community with so many rich stories.