LIMA — Lima and Ottawa embraced the spirit of giving this Thanksgiving by holding the annual Lewis Family McDonald’s dinner at Veterans Memorial Civic Center and Trinity United Methodist Church community dinner in Ottawa.
Jerry Lewis and Scott Shaw have been organizing the Lewis Family McDonald’s Thanksgiving dinner for 13 years, they said.
“We feed about 3,000 people a year,” Lewis said.
Shaw said the dinner is open to anyone who didn’t have a place to go for the holiday, no matter their financial situation or walk of life.
It takes a lot of planning, food and volunteers to feed 3,000 or more people. To accommodate that number of people, the event had on hand 1,200 pounds of turkey, 400 pounds of potatoes and stuffing and 100 pies. Planning for the event begins on Nov. 24, Shaw said. The volunteers get together the day before Thanksgiving to prepare the meal, but finding sponsors, donors and volunteers is a year-long process, he said.
“I bet there’s 300 volunteers here today,” Shaw said.
Brion Rhodes is one of those volunteers. He’s been volunteering with his family for eight or nine years, he said.
“It’s just a great way to serve,” Rhodes said. “We have so many things to be thankful for, and it’s a great way to give back to the community. It’s a good teaching moment for our kids. To raise your children to love and respect other and to give. That’s the goal.”
The Trinity United Methodist Church dinner is a smaller-scale version of the Lima event. Marita Deatrick, one of the dinner organizers, said they make enough food to feed 150 people. They make six turkeys, two hams, 20 batches of stuffing and a generous amount of potatoes.
“This is our 26th year,” she said. “We started in 1992. We had 17 people show up the first year and 35 people to serve them.”
Like the Lewis dinner, the Trinity dinner is open to anyone who doesn’t have somewhere to go for the holiday, Deatrick said. A couple of years ago a couple from out of state was driving through town, saw the sign for the dinner in front of the church and stopped to partake, she said.
“I have come for the last seven or eight years,” said Martha Davis, of Ottawa. “I always bring canned goods for the drive.”
This year Davis invited her neighbors Gloria Cox and Maria Vasquez to attend the dinner with her. Neither Cox or Vasquez had anything else to do for the holiday, so they accompanied her. They all agreed the atmosphere and food made the outing worthwhile.
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