Feast volunteers thankful for chance to give back to Butler community
The number of people dining at the annual community Thanksgiving dinner in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, was expected to surpass the previous year by several hundred people.
The number of people who volunteered and provided donations of food or money to the event also increased compared to last year. Once someone starts helping out with the community meal, which took place at Butler Global Church at 200 E. North Street for the second year in a row, they tend to come back again and often bring friends.
This is the case for Pete Duffy, who spent his 12th Thanksgiving volunteering at the meal, helping prepare plates for people dining in. According to Duffy, the allure of being able to help so many people in need on a holiday of all days is a feeling worth reliving each year.
“This is really a way to give to the community and every year it is a fulfillment for me,” Duffy said. “It’s tremendous... I have yet to find someone who doesn’t come back after the first year.”
The community meal is a decades-long tradition in Butler that has been perpetuated by several people who have run it for years now.
Mason Menell, a longtime coordinator of the feast, said his first community meal was about 30 years ago and he spent it in the kitchen making gravy. He now spends almost the entire year preparing for one day, Thanksgiving, to make sure people in Butler who need somewhere to eat on the holiday have one.
To him, organizing the meal is his own holiday tradition.
“It's the comradery of these people... this is my Thanksgiving family,” Menell said. “Some of these people I only see once a year and it's here, so it's nice to catch up.”
Menell said the coordinators of the meal expected to feed about 2,200 people, up from about 1,700 in 2024. People could come to the church to eat, pick up a to-go meal or have food delivered to their homes.
While there was a lot to keep track of throughout the day, Menell welcomed the masses, saying he hoped the weather didn’t keep anyone away. It certainly didn’t keep the helpers away.
“Our village of Butler stepped up 100% this year,” Menell said. “It's the most turkeys we've ever cooked for sure. I think, the most people who have ever gotten involved with volunteering or donations.”
To prepare for the influx of people, volunteers for the church started cooking on Tuesday. They usually don’t start until Wednesday, Menell said. All Saints Parish helped collect a lot of the food the meal coordinators would prepare and donations started flowing in around August.
Kelly Zaccari, another longtime coordinator of the meal, said the volunteers wanted to make sure they were prepared this year, seeing that social support programs like SNAP remain in limbo for some people. Although the coordinators could have used more help during the prep sessions, Zaccari said there was plenty of hands on Thanksgiving itself.
“I think that's why we got a lot more volunteers, a lot more community support than ever, because this is just been a rough year for a lot of families in the community,” Zaccari said.
Laura Saffell, pastor of Butler Global Church, said the coordinators of the community meal approached her to make sure they were still good to provide the Thanksgiving meal in the church. Global United Methodist only took up residency in the building about two months ago.
Saffell said she was happy to continue providing space for the meal to take place, because the holiday is an opportunity to serve others who need help.
“There are a lot of people who are struggling in a lot of different ways and if there is some way we can help out we want to do that,” Saffell said. “Because who hasn't gone through rough times?”
The people in the kitchen shared that sentiment. Several of the cooks volunteer their time at the meal after cooking at other establishments, like Adam Christy, who works at Bloom Cafe. He said he enjoys the chance to make food for people who otherwise might not get a Thanksgiving meal and the kitchen is where he gets to see friends he made from his previous years volunteering.
“Seems like I’m getting together with the same people every year. It’s fun,” Christy said.
Another volunteer in the kitchen, Mike Anderson, agreed that Thanksgiving has become a time for him to reunite with his volunteering brethren. He also makes new friends there each year.
“We get volunteers back every year and a couple new ones keep coming,” Anderson said.
Menell said he and the other organizers of the meal also try to make it better each year by looking at what works and what could be improved upon. The community meal included a sponsored veterans’ section for the first time, because some military veterans didn’t have somewhere to go on Thanksgiving.
“This is the day that veterans need something is a holiday like this, so this is the first year that we have a sponsored veterans' section,” Menell said.
The Thanksgiving community meal is also planned to extend beyond just Thanksgiving in the coming year, Menell said. Butler Global Church is one of the churches that provides community dinners to people in need in Butler, and Menell said he sees an opportunity to collaborate. Because, as he explained, people who need food on Thanksgiving likely need food on more days throughout the year.
“We want to make this, not just a Thanksgiving thing, but events to make us known all year long, so it's not just a push at Thanksgiving but they'll hear our name throughout all year,” Menell said. “These people need help all year long, they're in need. We want to grow the organization. We don't want it to just be a one-holiday organization.”
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Volunteer Erica Ball serves stuffing to help feed attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Volunteer Charlie Ball serves green beans and gravy to help feed attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Volunteer Erica Ball serves stuffing to help feed attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Volunteer Patti Vandale mashed potatoes to help feed attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Volunteer Charlie Ball serves green beans and gravy to help feed attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Volunteer Wesley Hoffer helps serve meals to give to attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Volunteer Lyrik Frisby helps serve meals to give to attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Gravy is poured on a Thanksgiving Day dinner during the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Connie Hoffer separates pieces of pie to be packaged for takeout orders during the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Drew Brown collects pies to be packaged into a to go order during the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Drew Brown gathers meals into a to go box for a pickup order during the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mackenzie Raab passes out pies to attendees of the Butler Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Global United Methodist Church in Butler on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
