-
INDOOR DINING — Garrett Glass (right) of the Knight of Columbus from St. James Catholic Church, serves a Thanksgiving meal at the First Methodist Church Dinner Bell to in-person diners for the first time in more than two years. Meals have been packaged to-go since Covid-19 restrictions were in place. No meal will be served by Dinner Bell on Nov. 23 to allow volunteers to spend time with their families. Staff photo by Don Wallace -
SO FUNNY — Members of the North Hopkins Elementary Beta group share laughs with the seniors Wednesday at a special Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving event sponsored by City National Bank at the Sulphur Springs Senior Citizen Center. -
GREAT TIME — Nola Rae Tadlock partakes of some Thanksgiving treats. She said she is thankful 'to get out of the house and come to the Senior Citizens Center.' Staff photos by Don Wallace
Thanksgiving came early at two locations Wednesday in Sulphur Springs.
For the first time in more than two years the Dinner Bell, operated out of the First United Methodist Church, allowed in-person diners.
The church has been preparing meals for more than a decade, but recently were making only to-go meals following Covid-19 restrictions.
'This is the first time we've done in-person meal like we did back when the program started. I like it,' Judy Gilreath, Dinner Bell coordinator.
Gilreath admitted she did not know how many to expect for the sit-down meal in the Fellowship Hall of the church.
The line formed more than 30 minutes before the turkey, dressing, sides were served.
Gilreath said more than 200 meals are usually prepared each week. The meal preparation this week got a big assist from the Knights of Columbus group.
Volunteers include current Grand Knight Garrett Glass; former Grand Knight Rick Flanary; along with Mark Critchet and Jose Lozano.
The men put in time last Saturday cooking 14 large turkeys over a smoker for eight honors.
The Dinner Bell got some of the turkeys, others went to Meal-A-Day.
Gilreath said two turkeys were also cooked in the kitchen at the church to create 'drippings' which were used in other dishes.
Glass said he has been volunteering at the church and cooking turkeys for the Dinner Bell for four or five years.
'It's what we do to give back, ' Glass said. 'We get to help out another church and the community. This is a worthy charity. We probably had 15 persons out when we smoked the turkeys. Four of us came up to also help serve.'
Flanary said, 'We give back to the community, some of us also volunteer at Meal-A-Day and the Community Chest.
Other volunteers differed saying that turkey sandwiches after the holiday were one of the great rewards of the season.
Once the turkeys were delivered to the Dinner Bell, they were deboned and sliced by the volunteers staff. This week the Bright Star Garden Club put in tireless work on Tuesday and Wednesday to get the meal ready.
The Thanksgiving menu at the Dinner Bell included all the favorites, like turkey, homemade cranberry cause, gravy, dressing, holiday honeycrisp, apple salad with orange dressing; pumpkin gooey butter cake, green beans with bacon, along with homemade rolls.
Some of the first people through the line were Terri Hunter, Becky Ogles, Sandra Hall, Theresa Boyd and Jo Mair Neal.
Hunter said, 'We like the meals any time, but it is better like this in person.'
Ogles said, 'We enjoy coming to the Fellowship Hall, this is how we all together. We started eating together and found out how many other people we know. Dinner Bell brought us together.'
The Dinner Bell will not serve or package a meal on Nov. 23.
Meal-A-Day Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving
More than 30 people took part in the event at the Sulphur Springs Senior Citizen Center.
Not only did they have some of the turkeys smoked by the Knight of Columbus, they had a variety of other side dishes along with a table full of pies, cakes, cobblers and other tasty creations.
The event was sponsored by City National Bank.
Making sure everyone kept their drinks refilled help was given by the fourth grade Beta Club members Tessa Robinson, Jenti Dodd, Alylah Nunez, Laiken Callihan, Ben Dufrene with sponsors Star Erwin and Carmen Dufrene of North Hopkins.
Dawna Pryor coordinator of the center welcomed the hungry seniors.
'Please, go ahead and eat, we have a ton of food and lots of fun,' Pryor said.
Then the senior citizens told of things they were thankful for, they included: 'All the people here,' 'My family and friends,' 'To be back in Texas,' 'To be able to be here,' 'This center and all of you,'
'All the people in my
life,' 'My exercise group,' 'My home and neighbors,' 'To be over a stroke and to not have cancer,'
'To wake up this morning' Nola Rae Tadlock summed it up saying, 'To see all these smiling faces, and getting out of my house is the main thing to me.'