Thanksgiving Spirit
The menu might not have included loaves and fishes, but Butler's Thanksgiving community meal on Thursday was bountiful nonetheless.
With modifications in place to limit COVID-19 exposure, the annual event included cooking 80 turkeys and serving about 1,500 meals this year.
“We knew that there were going to be modifications from the start,” said Sue Cadwallader, director of pastoral care for Butler Area Catholic Parishes and a dinner volunteer. “We're very happy that we can do this.”
For more than 25 years, the Thanksgiving community dinner has drawn volunteers from all faiths and walks of life.
Although it's typically hosted at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church along Franklin Street, Cadwallader said the event is a countywide effort. Volunteers come from as far away as Pittsburgh to serve anyone in need of a hot meal on Thanksgiving Day.“We actually have a team that coordinates,” Cadwallader said. “It kind of unfolds itself.”Pete Duffy of Meridian has been a community dinner volunteer for five years. He spent Wednesday morning at the St. Michael church along Center Avenue removing turkeys from roasters and turning drippings into 5-gallon buckets of gravy.
Duffy said he helps out with the Thanksgiving dinner for one reason.“(It's) to give back to the community,” Duffy said. “That's the whole goal.”“Nobody should go hungry,” said Mason Menell, a Butler resident who's been part of the dinner for the past 15 years. “(We need) kids involved for the next generation, so we can keep this going until everyone is fed.”Planning for Thursday began weeks ago, when dinner volunteers began asking for meal orders and receiving donations.Cadwallader said things like stuffing, green beans and cranberry sauce were largely provided through community contributions. The turkeys were purchased with monetary donations.
Instead of inviting the community to participate in a sit-down meal in the St. Peter social hall this year, event volunteers made deliveries and offered take-out meals. Orders were being collected as late as midnight Wednesday, according to Cadwallader.Adhering to social distancing standards meant the event could only have 25 volunteers working in an area at a time.Cadwallader said this resulted in two major changes: This year's meal required more organization than in past years, and jobs had to be conducted in shifts.
Cadwallader said despite the new look of the 2020 Thanksgiving dinner, the volunteer effort behind this year's event seems to be stronger than ever.“I think (it's) a bigger community effort,” Cadwallader said. “There's a lot of fear out there.”Butler resident Chris Baldacci said he was laid off in April after the pandemic took hold of the region's economy. That didn't stop him from helping to prepare turkeys Wednesday afternoon. He's been a dinner chef for 25 years.
The number of meals served this year is on par with last year, but Cadwallader said the 2020 dinner didn't start that way. Until about a week ago, she said volunteers had roughly 600 orders lined up.The late influx of orders was surprising, according to Cadwallader. She said it probably happened because so many churches are only seeing a portion of their congregants at a time due to pandemic restrictions.“There's less communication,” Cadwallader said.About 100 volunteers helped to pull this year's dinner together, she said, from cooks to delivery drivers.
By working with other places of worship in the community, Cadwallader said planning the Thanksgiving event and others has become “a matter of sharing ideas.”“Every little piece is part of the puzzle,” she said. “We are very grateful to everybody.”Meal volunteers prepared some things Wednesday night and planned an assembly line-type process to complete orders Thursday.Distribution flow was organized in such a way that visitors didn't need to get out of their vehicles.
Cadwallader and other volunteers pitch in to bring the dinner together year after year because they believe in the work they're doing. For many workers, the meal is truly a community event. Visitors are always served, no questions asked.Cadwallader said she thinks it's one of the best things Butler County offers every year.“We need it. People need it,” she said. “God makes it happen.”
