Nonprofits provide meals, company on Thanksgiving
While most spent Thanksgiving feasting with friends and family, some Washington County residents spent their holiday making sure everyone had a meal and a friend to share it with.
Multiple nonprofits in the county held community dinners on Thanksgiving Day, for anyone in need of Thanksgiving dinner and good company. The Canonsburg/Houston Ministerial Association held its 35th annual free Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 2 p.m. at Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church, 112 W. Pike St.
“It’s an open dinner for everyone,” said the dinner organizer Lynlee Caliguiri. “We hear a lot of heartwarming stories from people who would have been alone on Thanksgiving, but they came here.”
Caliguiri said they’ve had a waiting list of people who wanted to help volunteer for the event.
“I’m very lucky,” she said. “My parents were involved in this dinner when it started 35 years ago. As children, we just grew up with it, and it’s a part of my family. Now it’s just a tradition for us on Thanksgiving.”
All of the traditional food is purchased through church and community donations. They had 300 pounds of turkey-costing about $1,000-and 95 pies, along with other traditional Thanksgiving foods. All of it was prepared by Loutsion Catering in Canonsburg. Bob Loutsion, the owner, and his family and other volunteers prepared 110 Meals on Wheels, which were delivered Thursday morning, 120 sit-down meals and 250 take-out meals.
“Everyone who leaves gets a take-out meal to have later,” Loutsion said.
Bill Hill, of Chartiers Township, has been volunteering for the dinner for several years. He said volunteers start showing up at 7:30 a.m. to deliver the Meals on Wheels, and some don’t leave until 5 p.m., once everything is cleaned up and the dishes are done.
“The whole idea of giving thanks overcomes you, and you want to express that in some way,” he said. “People have a good time here when they’re volunteering. There’s a greater need in the community than is obvious to everyone.”
The Washington City Mission also held sit-down dinners from noon to 1 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. for their residents staying in shelters and for the community.
“It’s targeted at people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have a Thanksgiving family dinner experience,” said Gary Porter, communications manager for the City Mission.
It’s the second year the Mission has held a “Week of Thanksgiving” celebration, by serving lunch and dinner the entire week of Thanksgiving.
“We’ve been serving about 130 people per meal,” said Sheila Coquet, the director of volunteer services for the Mission. “It’s a lot of food.”
Brian Johansson, the Mission’s chief operating officer, said they have probably served about 3,000 meals this week. They have 165 residents that benefited from the meals, but the Mission’s volunteers also took meals to residents in need and provided take-out meals for people.
Coquet said the Mission started having the full week of Thanksgiving because of the need in the community and the outpouring of people wanting to volunteer on Thanksgiving. Throughout the week, they’ve had 450 people volunteer to help serve meals.
“Spots to volunteer on Thanksgiving fill up by September,” she said. “Everyone thinks about helping out on Thanksgiving.”
Rica Malone and her 13-year-old daughter Marena have been volunteering at the Mission every Thanksgiving for three years.
“We enjoy coming here-it’s become a tradition for us,” Malone said. “It’s a reality check. You don’t realize how thankful you are every day.”