Local woman to host Community Thanksgiving meal

For 12 years, local resident Marjorie Schwalm has given up Thanksgiving dinner at home with her own family to host the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner.

Schwalm and her family, along with several friends and dozens of other local volunteers, spend hours each year working to organize the event, which is open to the community and provides Thanksgiving meals to hundreds of local residents. This year's event is scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 25, at the Elks Lodge, 111 W. 19th St. Meals will also be available for delivery.

"This is how we spend our Thanksgiving," Schwalm said.

Schwalm said Thursday she has already taken 90 advanced delivery orders, and she anticipates even more deliveries this year than last year. The event provided about 600 meals -- 300 deliveries and 300 meals for people who dined in -- last year. Schwalm said her family provides some of the money to organize the event while much of the funds comes from donations.

The event began when Schwalm discovered several years ago that area churches and local organizations no longer wished to sponsor the annual Thanksgiving dinner, which at the time was created for those in town who could not afford to cook a Thanksgiving dinner of their own. Schwalm, who had experience cooking large dinners, committed to organizing the event, which has since been opened to anyone in the community and has become a social event for many people.

The first dinner that Schwalm and her family prepared drew about 100 people. The event has continued to grow significantly ever since and has averaged about 500-600 meals each year the last few years.

"I think we're getting the word out more ... this is for anybody," she said.

Today, the event helps some older couples who attend the dinner because it is too difficult to make a Thanksgiving dinner for two people, people who don't want to cook or can't afford the dinner, and people who simply do not want to be by themselves on the holiday. The event also helps some elderly and disabled people, people who don't have transportation and people who want to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner but don't like attending social events, Schwalm said.

Not only does Schwalm get help each year from family members and longtime friends, but also from several volunteers of various ages, from youngsters to people in their 70s and 80s. About half the volunteers work in the kitchen preparing and serving meals and packaging them for delivery and other volunteers deliver the meals to residents.

"Most of the volunteers have been with me all 12 years," she said.

Schwalm said the event has grown to draw so many volunteers that in recent years she has been able to perform more of a supervisory role.

"It's unbelievable, the amount of people," she said. "I can just stand back and watch ... There are so many hands going. The day of the event, it's a very organized chaos."

Schwalm said she provides some food for the event, but the majority is provided by local organizations. The Elks Lodge provides and smoked turkeys. The Community Christian Church provides desserts, Parkway Church of God provides dinner rolls and Mercy Health Center chips in by providing other food items.

For more information about volunteering at the dinner, or request a meal delivery, contact Schwalm at (620) 223-1521.