Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner To Take Place In Wallingford
WALLINGFORD, CT — Organizers are making final preparations for the Wallingford Community Dinners, Inc.’s annual Thanksgiving dinner next week.
The free meal event will take place from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 28 at First Congregational Church of Wallingford at 23 South Main Street in Wallingford.
The nonprofit group has been serving the community for more than 40 years by providing dinners to those in need on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
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Wallingford Community Dinners, Inc. President Kathy Wallace said they are in good shape for next week’s Thanksgiving dinner thanks to “lots of volunteers.”
“We will start prepping on Monday,” Wallace said. “I have 22 people signed up to help with the prep work and between 65 and 70 for Thanksgiving Day. Also, there will be people that don’t sign up, but come to help make deliveries. We even have someone to do crafts and a pianist to provide background music.”
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Pre-ordered meals will also be delivered to the homebound. Those meals need to be ordered by Nov. 26, according to Wallace.
“That gives us time to organize the list and get ready for the volunteers to deliver the meals,” Wallace said. “That doesn’t mean that we will turn away anyone. It is simply easier for us to have the names and addresses by the 26th.”
Wallace said the event is “an opportunity to give back to the community and help make the holiday happy for those in need.”
“We view those in need very broadly,” she said. “It can be someone in financial need, someone who is homebound, or someone who wants some company for the holiday. I think this is a great thing for the community. We will provide approximately 300 dinners for Thanksgiving. That is a lot of happy people. As good as it is for the people we serve, it is very rewarding for all the volunteers too.”
With the current increased prices of groceries, Wallace said the group needs more donations for these events.
“Since we don’t charge for the dinners, we are completely relying on people donating to us,” she said. “We have received a grant from the Wallingford Community Women and the Wallingford Rotary. These are extremely helpful, but we need people to help us out also. We also receive desserts and breads from BJ’s, Stop & Shop, and Shop Rite. We rely on these for the desserts and bread that we give out. The Elks provide 200 pounds of potatoes for each holiday. Thurston Foods thaws our turkeys for us. And, of course, the church provides the facility for us to prepare and serve the meals. It is a community effort to provide these meals.”
Anyone interesting in making a donation, should make it payable to Wallingford Community Dinners, Inc, PO Box 211, Wallingford, CT 06492. Donations are also accepted at its website here.
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To volunteer, or register to have a meal delivered, call 203-514-8883 or email [email protected].
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