Coming Together With Thanks

By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Editor

 

One thousand.

That’s the number of pounds of turkey that were deep fried or smoked for the free community Thanksgiving dinner; the crew from Lake Gregory Church cooked a total of 72 birds to feed the hungry diners.

It’s also the number of pieces of pie that were cut to satisfy those sweet tooths. The pies were donated to the dinner by Mike Johnstone and Goodwin’s Market.

And it’s about the number of meals that were either delivered or served at the annual dinner, sponsored by the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club with the partnership of other community groups.

“We are so grateful to have been able to offer this free dinner to the community again this year,” said Jeri-Lynn Miller, president of the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club. “We couldn’t do this without the partnership of so many churches, organizations and community members. We especially thank those who donated to the cost of the dinner: Supervisor Dawn Rowe, the Mountain Sunrise Rotary Club, Night Owl Alarm, the Crest Forest Senior Citizens Club, the Crestline Lions Club, Scott and Susan Markovich and the countless folks who dropped donations into the cans at Goodwin’s Market and donated at crestlinethanksgiving.com.
“We also owe tremendous thanks to Mike Johnstone and Goodwin’s Market for the donation of the apple and pumpkin pies, to Chef Fred Keville for once again running an efficient kitchen that put out so many delicious meals and to all the volunteers, without whom this dinner would not be possible and who were organized so efficiently by Susan Markovich. Special thanks to the crew from Lake Gregory Church, who manned the fryers and smoker.”

Folks started arriving at the San Moritz Lodge well before serving began at noon. They came into the warm Lodge – where a fire was burning in the fireplace – and settled into their seats. At noon, Brian Philp of Lake Gregory Church – who organized the church’s large cadre of volunteers – welcomed everyone, wishing them a very Happy Thanksgiving. Diners then lined up and were served heaping plates of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and creamed corn. They also chose a piece of pie – which was topped with whipped cream – a roll with butter and cranberry sauce.

The tables in the Lodge were festooned with decorations made by the EarlyAct Clubs at Valley of Enchantment Elementary School – pinecone turkeys, construction paper turkeys, laminated placemats with colorful leaves and cards with heartfelt messages (“You are the sun to my day”).

Diners immediately lined up all the way to the fireplace at the far end of the Lodge. By 1 p.m., the line was out the door and into the parking lot; it remained that way, continuing to grow until 3 p.m., when all folks were inside the Lodge.

As diners finished their meals, volunteers cleared off their plates and prepared the tables for the next wave of hungry folks.

At 4 p.m., the tired volunteers on the serving line began cleaning up the kitchen. The leftover food was packaged up and picked up by a parishioner from St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Catholic Church for their food mission.

Miller received this message from the church: “Thank you to you and your group of volunteers for such a beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving dinner for our community. What a great success! The good weather helped. God bless you all.

“We at St. Frances Outreach are most grateful for your charitable hearts. We joyfully received many trays of food, and the community will continue to be blessed by your generosity for the next week or two through St. Frances Outreach. We appreciate all you do for our brothers and sisters.  Many prayers of gratitude, for each of you.”

One diner – a recent widow – was meeting friends to share Thanksgiving with. “I don’t know what I would do without this dinner,” she said.

And a family of first-time diners enjoying their dinners remarked, “We have a new Thanksgiving tradition.”