A line of talkative, upbeat residents formed outside, and as people left, more were let in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have family nearby. My wife and I came to socialize and enjoy a good meal, then go home and watch football,\u201d said Mike Tulio. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to not have to do all that cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is the time of year to be reflective, added one man in line named Jerry.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving this nice meal, I think about how the year went, and how to make the next year better,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is really good for the community, food is the way to the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
The orderly system kept the line moving, and the wait was not too long. Kitchen volunteers served up plate after plate of hot food, and dessert runners took orders for pie and drinks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe food is really good, and it is nice to see the variety of community people,\u201d said Judy Wolfe.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is so friendly, and the kids made these creative cards with holiday messages written in them,\u201d added Mike Duncan.<\/p>\n
Donations of food and funds were key to its success.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows the community cares. You have to give to put something like this together,\u201d said Lenna Johnson, who brought in canned goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of volunteers is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The age range of volunteers is nice to see as well, said one volunteer. Helpers ranged from young students to the elderly.<\/p>\n On Thanksgiving morning, cooks put together final recipes, including 25 roasted and deboned turkeys, 400 freshly made rolls and 7 gallons of gravy. On a long table, more than 50 homemade pies had been set out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have teams of cooks and enough food to feed an army,\u201d said cook Chris Snyder. \u201cAll the dishes are specially prepared with extra care.\u201d<\/p>\n For example, the stuffing included roasted onions and apples, and the green beans were mixed with bacon and onions.<\/p>\n He volunteers with family members in the kitchen. When they saw the store-bought rolls last year, they decided to bake the homemade rolls from now on.<\/p>\n Volunteers also delivered about 60 meals to homebound residents and their caretakers, and to Hospice patients.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event brings everyone together,\u201d says church administrator Annie Seder. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for newcomers in the community to meet people, it\u2019s open to those passing through, it\u2019s for locals and people who don\u2019t have family nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n The reaction the homebound have when a Thanksgiving meal is delivered to them is heartwarming, Atkins said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne elderly gal living alone invited us in so she could play some songs on the piano for us; a disabled veteran living alone was close to tears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Grace\u2019s Kitchen, a ministry of St. Barnabas, serves free meals twice per week, year-round, to any one who needs it, she said. On the other three days, free meals are served up by Hope\u2019s Kitchen run by the Cortez Methodist Church. Both soup kitchens rely on donations.<\/p>\n Seder said Grace\u2019s is especially thankful for the donations and the fresh produce brought in by local gardeners.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year, we saw much more donated fruits, eggs and vegetables, and it has significantly helped lower our costs per meal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Together, Grace and Hope\u2019s Kitchen serve an estimated 25,000 meals per year.<\/p>\n jmimiaga@ the-journal.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 18th annual community dinner attracts hundreds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,1753,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-65491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-holiday-or-vacation","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91374,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65491\/revisions\/91374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65491"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=65491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}