CommUnity Thanksgiving better organized, but volunteers still essential — and needed
Preparations for Gadsden’s annual CommUnity Thanksgiving Celebration, Craig Scott observed, were once like a “big old friendly gang all piled in there.”
That changed — for the better, according to vice chair Scott and other members of the event’s board of directors — with its restructure as a standalone 501(c)(3) nonprofit with defined bylaws, committees to deal with specific planning areas and a website.
What hasn’t changed, however, is the heartbeat of CommUnity Thanksgiving — the volunteers who make the free Thanksgiving Day meal happen — and there are plenty of opportunities remaining for this year’s event, set for Nov. 24 at The Venue at Coosa Landing.
The basics also haven’t changed: Anyone, rich or poor, who shows up for dine-in or take-out or requests a delivery can enjoy a free holiday meal; 8,784 people did in 2021. It’s become a social event in the city, and gives group homes and assisted living centers that take part a chance to have holiday meals while giving their staff cooks a respite.
This year’s meal consists of chicken and dressing, ham, green beans, macaroni and cheese, a roll, dessert and, for those dining in, a drink (soda, tea or water).
Dine-in and carry-out hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; deliveries will be available between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and can be requested online at www.commthanks.org or by calling 256-393-8140 (and Scott said people are already calling).
Those interested in helping — and final preparations will begin at 8 a.m. on Nov. 21 — can sign up at www.commthanks.org. According to board chair Darlene Harcrow, kitchen workers, dish washers, servers, greeters — “to make people feel welcome as they come in” — and delivery drivers are needed.
“Chopping onions, cutting cakes, tearing chicken off the bone, breaking down cornbread and mixing dressing, setting up the event at The Venue,” Harcrow said, “all those jobs are listed at the signup page.”
Related:CommUnity Thanksgiving makes successful return
Scott, whose connection with CommUnity Thanksgiving started on the serving line, said they normally get a thousand or so volunteers, and Harcrow said they could always use a few hundred more.
“Last year was the smallest volunteer group we’ve had, a couple shy of a thousand, and we just didn’t have people in some places,” she said. “We’re always short of parking (help), and parking is a huge thing with that many cars coming in and how we’ve got things separated.”
The Rev. Willie Simmons, pastor of New Liberty Tabernacle of Praise in East Gadsden, launched CommUnity Thanksgiving in 1998 at his church. (Simmons still attends the event, organizers said, and his presence is a “blessing.”
It immediately outgrew that location and was shifted to Donehoo Elementary School the following year, and then to Convention Hall in 2000. It moved to The Venue in 2018 after the city’s old auditorium was decommissioned. (“We do love The Venue,” Scott said. “It’s so much easier for folks than walking up the hill to Convention Hall.”)
The meal wasn’t held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Board meetings ahead of this year’s event began in January, committee meetings in the summer. “We were having monthly meetings, now we’ve progressed to weekly meetings,” Scott said. “It’s a sign of ‘OK, we’re getting closer.’
“That’s one indicator of how we’re better organized,” he said. “We don’t have to bring in everybody like the ‘friendly gang’ I mentioned before to every meeting. The board can control that until it becomes controlled chaos.”
Scott said they are allowing for 8,000 plates — the sense is that last year’s total, coming off the pandemic, may have been an anomaly — with a $35,000 budget.
“That’s good considering some of our prices have doubled, our rolls and stuff,” Harcrow said.
The switch from turkey, which has become prohibitively expensive, came last year, and Alatrade in Albertville is set to donate chicken again, 1,000 pounds this year.
There will also be a cost-saving move for take-out and delivery meals; they will include a Little Debbie oatmeal cake instead of a slice of pound cake for dessert. Those who dine in will still get cake.
“Our cakes were running right at $4,500," Harcrow said, “and we were able to almost cut that in half.”
Scott said there’s also a time-saving rationale. “Think about how many people we serve,” he said. “You have a knife in your hand and now you have to cut cakes into 16 pieces, and they’re not easy to cut because they’re kind of gooey and sticky. You make one cut, it’s nice; that 15th cut, it’s going to be a mess.”
Along with volunteers, organizers say, donations are needed. “We have more (money) at this time than we normally do,” Harcrow said, “but donations would be a blessing and any amount is appreciated.
“We’ve found that in the last few years, the $25 donations are what has always ‘run us,’ ” she said. “We’ve not had as many of those since people have been hit so hard (economically). So, we’ve had to rely on businesses and it’s getting hard.”
Donations may be made in person at Pathways Academy, 1766 Alabama Highway 77, Southside, or the Gadsden Public Library main branch, 254 College St.; by mail to P.O. Box 412, Gadsden, AL 35902; by text at 44321; via PayPal at paypal.me/commthanks; or via Give Lively at https://bit.ly/3X7r4zl.
Scott said during speaking events and appearances before governmental bodies, he’s tried to stress that “everyone needs to be proud of this event because we are the largest in the state and we think we’re top five in the country.”
Harcrow said it’s something that must be experienced, by participants and diners, to be understood “because there are so many walks of life involved.”
She added, “I’m so glad I got to be a part of this event because it’s so blessed and has touched so many people, from volunteers to the people who are getting fed.”
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Volunteer, donate to Gadsden's free CommUnity Thanksgiving meal 2022
