Once again, during the Thanksgiving holiday, hundreds of volunteers will feed more than 1,500 people in Clinton County as the “No Kid Hungry Project” scrambles to put the finishing touches on what will prove to be another successful year.

Melissa Tallent has sponsored the “No Kid Hungry Project” for the past three years and every year the Thanksgiving Dinner her and her students put on gets bigger and bigger.

Last year, the group fed 1,483 meals on Thanksgiving Day. This year, they expect to top 1,500.

Katie Williams, a senior at Clinton County High School, has been involved with the project since it’s beginning and being able to help those in need holds a special place in her heart.

“It made me feel really happy. It also gave me a sense of knowing what some people have and what some don’t have,” Williams said. “It made me realize how important it is to help people who are less fortunate even if that means sacrificing things like tv … it makes me feel blessed all the way around.”

Not only are students working in the kitchen preparing the meals, everyone who volunteers has different jobs.

While others served or worked the dessert lines, some delivered meals to those who couldn’t make it to the high school on Thanksgiving Day.

Several students were involved in the delivery process, including Deanna Shelton, Chase Claborn and Kayla Shelton.

“Each door step you went up too, there wasn’t a person who wasn’t greatful that we brought them food,” Deanna Shelton said. “We went to one lady’s house and she was crying because she was so happy.”

Claborn feels that if not for the “No Kid Hungry Project,” some people wouldn’t get a meal at all on Thanksgiving Day.

“I can remember delivering to some of the apartment buildings and seeing people so happy,” Claborn said. “It felt really good to be able to do that for people.”

Kayla Shelton felt the same way. She was also on one of the delivery crews last year during Thanksgiving.

“I can remember going to one house and there was a dad with four or five kids. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to feed them for that Thanksgiving,” Kayla Shelton said. “They were all so greatful to be getting food.”

While some of the student volunteers worked on the road, others helped out in other areas and those jobs were just as rewarding.

“It’s a realization because you don’t think about all the people who need a Thanksgiving meal until you come and work to provide that for people,” Mackenzie Polston said. “I worked in the kitchen and you are in a constant rush, but it’s awesome knowing you are helping feed this many people.”

By feeding more than 1,400 people last year, there has to be a substantial amount of volunteers willing to help get everything together. Frank Zheng said it was overwhelming the amount of people who came to help last year.

“The amount of people who came and helped, I was surprised … the community effort in trying to put this together, it gave me a sense of happiness,” Zheng said. “I remember a particular phone call I received where a person got an extra meal. She was worried that someone else wouldn’t get a meal because she had an extra one.”

All volunteers gained a sense of pride in doing their part for their community. Being able to be there for a complete stranger impacted their lives as well as those who received the meals.

“I really enjoyed meeting all the people and getting to know them,” McWilliams said. “It gives a sense of hope to know that you are really making a difference in people’s lives,” McWilliams said. “Just a couple of hours a day of your time can really change other people.”

Matthew Hunter said you will see things you normally wouldn’t see on a daily basis.

“I pretty much got a feeling of being blessed,” Hunter said. “You don’t really think about what other people do on Thanksgiving, but on that day, you see things you wouldn’t normally see, like people not having meals or places to stay.”

Even though the student volunteers work overtime on Thanksgiving, and most spend time away from their families, many choose to work together as a family in order to be together.

“At first they were kind of surprised when I said I was going to work on Thanksgiving Day,” Zach McFall said. “Once they really found out what it was for, they all really tried to help out to the best of their abilities. My sister came in and helped, my mom baked desserts and they really wanted to give all they could. I think all of us working toward a better cause gave us all a better sense of community.”

Tallent said almost all of the kids who have worked the Thanksgiving Day meal in the past are coming back to work again this year, even those who graduated from high school last year.

“They are all coming back,” Tallent said. “I don’t have anybody who graduated who worked last year who is not coming back to work this year. I got a text the other day from a student who asked how many of our family is coming back to work? It’s like we have become a family … not by blood, but by mutual cause.”

With some students working the road and delivering meals to those throughout the county, to those working in the kitchen preparing the meals, to those serving the meals. All student volunteers played their role. While some had to used multiple pairs of latex gloves to keep from burning their fingers when pulling the turkeys apart, others were working in much colder conditions.

Kyle Choate said he was on freezer duty during last year’s Thanksgiving Meal.

“I worked in the freezer last year. It is cruel and unusual when you are stuck in a freezer all day,” Choate said with a huge grin on his face. “I was hoping she (Ms. Tallent) would move me up from freezer duty to packing boxes or something. I did get moved up at one point to making stuffing, but them she moved me back to freezer duty. The cold never bothered me anyway.”

One thing about this group of volunteers, they know when to cut up and when to get serious. Tallent said having a sense of humor is a key part to becoming close with each other while working to make other people day joyful.

“We don’t cut up at all,” Tallent said with a chuckle. “We are going to put Mrs. Tallent in the freezer and I’m going to be in charge of telling everybody what to do,” Choate added. “The food might not be as good, but I will get it done.”

Keilee Dalton said her entire family were on hand last year to help with the meal.

Bailey Gibson said this was her favorite community program that she participates in.

“This one is my favorite because we are actually helping people in Albany,” Gibson said.

Last year, the group prepared more than 100 turkeys and according to Tallent, they are expected to cook around the same number of birds for this year.

“I think we will top 1,500 this year,” Tallent said. “I think we did around 112 birds last year and we had a little left over so I think we will do around 105 this year.”

The “No Kid Hungry Project” Thanksgiving Meal will be taking donations all they way up to Thanksgiving Day. Tallent said items or monitary donations will be collected at the Klassic Shop before Thanksgiving Day and people can bring desserts or food to the cafetiera at the high school on Thanksgiving Day.

“Some people come out and only see 30 or 40 of us working, but what they don’t see is that we started at 5:30 that morning trying to get everything together,” Tallent said. “The first year we ran out of desserts and last year we had to go back into Save-A-Lot and pick up more food because we only thought we were going to be serving 1,200 people. We had 1,200 people by 11:30 that morning. We also didn’t think we would have enough delivery people last year. I’m a firm believer in prayer and I prayed about it and a lot of people showed up. People I didn’t even know. People who never even called us … they just showed up and started making deliveries. If they hadn’t showed up I don’t know what we would have done.”

Tallent said her crew will start making deliveries around 10 to 10:30 and will start serving in the cafeteria around 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.