Over 1,400 Thanksgiving Day meals served

Posted December 3, 2014 at 4:06 pm

Part of organizing an event on a repeated or annual basis is to see that any noted flaws are fixed and necessary adjustments are made.

If just those two goals are met a project has a much better chance of going off “without a hitch” as the old saying goes.

Last Thursday, the No Kid Hungry Project, moved into its second year of providing a Thanksgiving meal to Clinton County residents in need.

Anyone lucky enough to visit the work being completed at the high school on Thanksgiving Day and take a peek into the kitchen, would have likely been reminded of yet another familiar phrase – “A well oiled machine” – and that would have been somewhat of an understatement.

Everyone had their part, their section, their duty and 1,400 meals later, the day was over and the people of Clinton County were less hungry.

Mrs. Melissa Tallent, Coordinator of the NKHP, started the Thanksgiving meal last year and with this being the second year, everything was bigger and better.

More than 120 turkeys were prepared, 70 gallons of green beans came and went, 1,200 rolls were handed out and of the 1,423 meals served the entire day, 800 were delivered along with 114 boxes of additional food items that had been donated to the cause.

Many of the meals served – in excess of 600 – were served in the cafeteria as hundreds of Clinton County residents came together in “family fashion” to enjoy the holiday meal with others.

These numbers of meals more than doubled from last year and Tallent said she hopes it gets bigger next year.

The entire Thanksgiving meal was put on by volunteers.

“We had more people to help this year than we did last year,” Tallent said. “We had to have 43 people at all times to run the kitchen. That was how many stations we had.”

People working in the kitchen had specific jobs, some were bringing pans to the serving area while others wrapped up food for deliveries and others cleaned up by washing dishes.

“I had to have washed about 20 pans,” Kyle Choate said with a laugh. “Kyle worked harder than anyone else and he just washed dishes.”

During an interview with a classroom of volunteers, Choate lightened the mood by speaking in third person, but it really showed how close of a group they are and by working together for a common goal, they really have become each other’s family.

“It was work, but it didn’t seem like work,” Choate said. “It wasn’t a negative washing dishes … it was a positive washing dishes.”

“My arms are still sore from all that dressing churning I did,” Chase Anderson added.

Tallent said another big help in the kitchen was the cooks from each of the schools who came out at 4:30 in the morning and helped with cooking turkeys.

One minor mishap occurred Wednesday afternoon when Tallent accidentally sliced her finger open in the kitchen.

“We drove the ambulance,” Glen England said with a smirk.

“Him and Chase (Anderson) not only drove me to the doctor, they came in the room with me,” Tallent added. “Chase’s driving was kind of like an ambulance driver.”

“We had her pinned to the wood,” Anderson said in reference to his driving skills. “We were into the carburetor!”

With all jokes aside, the day went off without a hitch and most agree they are better people because of this meal put on by the community.

“One lady told me, Danielle, Ethan and Kiley were her answered prayers,” England said.

Anderson said one person broke down and cried when they delivered her meal Thursday.

“She didn’t have any family here and she was amazed how the community had come together,” Anderson said. “She said it was a blessing to her.”

Tallent said one person had even called and said she received two meals and she was worried someone else didn’t get one because she had two.

“She was afraid she had got more than she was supposed to,” Tallent said.

The students who worked Thanksgiving Day all had stories of the appreciation they received to those they delivered to.

“One lady gave us a card and told us this would probably be the last Thanksgiving they would have with her dad because next year he would probably be in the nursing home or even pass away,” Kendra Craft said. “She repeated over and over of how much it meant to her that we were there.”

With more than several volunteers from within the school, there were many volunteers who are just community members. There were also several volunteers who graduated last year, who came back and worked.

“Not only did they come back to help out on Thursday, but many of them came before hand on our prep days,” Tallent said.

“We will feed as many as we can. If it grows the Lord will provide … plain and simple.”

Those seniors who worked this year, all agreed they would be back next year as well.

Anderson said it was a blessing to know the people in the community who donated to the meal were standing behind them and supporting them.

“Anthony Dalton from Save-A-Lot helped us keep the turkeys and actually went back in on Thanksgiving Day to get us more potatoes,” Tallent said. “The community support was absolutely amazing.”

One aspect Tallent said she didn’t expect was the amount of people who came to enjoy the Thanksgiving meal, then, turned around and helped deliver meals.

“They came for the meal and saw we had a need,” Tallent said. “It’s more than humbling … it puts life into perspective. Those who have stuff, and I’m not talking about monetary stuff, I’m talking family in Albany here with us, for a lot of people, they don’t have the family and they don’t have the friends. Last year we said we had Thanksgiving with 500 of our closest friends. Well, our family quadrupled this year. If I did nothing else for the rest of my life, I would die a happy person.”

Up next for the NKHP will be a mentoring program that will see high school students spending time with those kids who were a part of the Bus Stop Cafe this summer.

Also, the group plans to deliver food during the Christmas holiday. Tallent said they will be handing out boxes of food, mostly canned goods and frozen chicken. She said they are wanting to also hand out a gallon of milk with each box.

“We saw a need,” Tallent said. “Kiley (Hoppe, Tallent’s daughter) told me if she could do this everyday of her life then she would have the happiest day of her life everyday. I started this from a community service project in one of my classes and now I have got more out of this than I initially expected. It has changed my life.”

If anyone did not receive a meal on Thanksgiving Day, please call the No Kid Hungry Project Hotline at 606-306-1916 and leave your name and number on a message.

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An assembly line for meal prep was used to package the meals on Thanksgiving Day in order for meals to be delivered throughout the county. In the photos shown here, adults and students worked together to prepare the food, box meals to be delivered, and get them out to families who were fed.