A group of Salem organizations had a record-breaking Community Thanksgiving Dinner serving more people than it had ever done before.
This year over 1800 meals were served and 87 blankets were given to families in need.
The dinner is the combined effort of Saved with Amazing Grace, the Marion County YMCA, and the Apostolic Church with help from many in the community. Only 45 of the dinners were eaten at the Apostolic Church, with the rest either delivered or picked up. 500 were taken to the Centralia Community Youth Center for distribution in the Centralia area.
Organizer Chris Watkins from Saved with Amazing Grace reveals some of the preparation that goes into cooking hundreds of meals.
“95 turkeys this year were smoked. We have a full dinner. We started at six this morning. The turkeys we started two days ago.”
Watkins explained how the program got started eight years ago.
“We felt there was a need in the community when we started it. The first year we served 420 and it has gotten bigger every year.”
Overall, the organizers think this year’s dinner was a great success and want to thank the community and all the people who helped make it possible. Watkins estimated 50 to 60 people volunteered to work on the dinner and delivery.
A photo of volunteers involved in putting on the Community Thanksgiving Dinner.
Full boxes of Thanksgiving Dinner ready to be delivered or picked up. Photo by Henry Morton.
A record number of blankets were donated to be given away to those in need at the dinner.
