Kitchens steamed from massive cooking pots and volunteers sweated Thursday while dishing out a record 3,800 free Thanksgiving meals for South Mississippians. For both the food workers and for those who might not otherwise have eaten a turkey dinner, it was a day of unabashed gratefulness.
"It's time for us to give thanks, and I don't know any better way to put it," said Traci Monroe, a 12-year-old volunteer from Wiggins. She, her sister, mother and more than 240 other volunteers showed up at the Gulf Coast Rescue Mission to help with that agency's 45th year in serving Thanksgiving dinner to the less fortunate.
This year's volunteer list at the Biloxi mission was augmented by AmeriCorps, currently building Habitat for Humanity Homes on the Coast. With the others, they served up more than 430 meals.
"We're away from our families so continuing to do something to help others is a good thing to be doing on Thanksgiving Day, said, Ben Spies, 23, who lives near Chicago.
The mission was one of a half-dozen sites offering free turkey and ham dinners. Sometimes the volunteers served on-site, other times they delivered to the elderly, shut-ins or those who don't have transportation.
The volunteer-driven holiday meal program in Harrison County dished up 2,246 meals, the most for Thanksgiving in 20 years of the program, even though food and money donations have waned.
This year, 450 volunteers of all ages showed up for the Harrison County Volunteers to Feed The Needy, sponsored by the sheriff's department, Gulfport, Biloxi and D'Iberville police departments The volunteers hand-delivered meals across the county, offering a friendly holiday greeting along with a hot food.
"With the economy and so many people out of jobs, we think that's why there is so much need this year," said Dianne Shoemake, the sheriff's administrative assistant. "We've obviously made Thanksgiving 2008, but with our corporate donations low this year, we're not certain we will make the Christmas meal.
"It's a cycle. The businesses can't help us because they're in a slump and laying off people, but that creates more families needing the meals. We've done Thanksgiving and Christmas every year and somehow we have to keep that tradition going. "
That can-do attitude was echoed by others dishing up food on Thursday.
"We served about 600 meals, and people were already lined up at the door when we opened," said Sally Kelly of Gulfport, whose extended family of 100 serves a Hancock County meal at the American Legion Hall in Bay St. Louis.
For the first year, Grace Temple Baptist Church in Gulfport, advertised its Thanksgiving dinner and was pleased to see 300 show up, plus unexpected community volunteers to help them.
"Oh my goodness, it was wonderful to see," said Janice Ball, who did most of the cooking for the church.
Our Daily Bread, a Pascagoula soup kitchen, was among those serving, but some soup kitchens and organizations offered Thanksgiving meals earlier in the week.
For Thanksgiving Day video and photos, see sunherald.com To see more of The Sun Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sunherald.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.