It was the biggest year yet for the Annual Thanksgiving turkey dinner prepared for the community at Poplar Place in Centralia.
1,130 meals were provided to make sure everyone had a traditional turkey dinner, topping the 900 that were served last year.
One of the organizers, Mimi Hawkins, says they anticipated the increase due to other Thanksgiving programs not being completed this year.
“Everything was fabulous. Our volunteers, our donors, everybody was really really good. We had a little bit of everybody, from young to old. Volunteers who just showed up without us even asking, they just showed up because they just wanted to help. It was an amazing day for our community.”
In all, Hawkins estimated that 50 volunteered to help prepare and deliver the dinners.
Hawkins says enough food was donated to make 1,400 meals. After everyone was served, the extra meals were delivered to emergency response personnel and retail workers who had to work on Thanksgiving Day.
This was the 19th year of the program. Hawkins commends the owners of Poplar Place for their commitment to the Thanksgiving Dinner.
In the kitchen during preparation.
You can’t have Thanksgiving dinner without the pie.
