Community gathers for dinner
Central oregon thanksgiving 2005
Published: November 25. 2005 4:00AM PST
Volunteers the heart of annual event
At 13 years old, Cody Anderson is a veteran at serving Thanksgiving meals to hundreds of hungry people attending an annual turkey dinner hosted by the Salvation Army and The Hunger Prevention Coalition.
He and his 8-year-old twin brothers, Jesse and Levi, spent the middle of their day Thursday serving up heaping plates of food at a hall
in Trinity Episcopal Church
in Bend.
“We get to ask people what they want and when they want something we can get it for them and that makes them happy,” Levi Anderson said.
The brothers carried out baskets of rolls, served drinks and took turns rolling the coveted dessert cart, filled with cakes and pies, to diners who ate their fill.
The Anderson’s grandmother, Barbara Tracy, said Cody has been volunteering at the dinner for five years and the twins have pitched in for the last three.
“Basically we want the kids to learn to do for someone else,” Tracy said.
The family is among more than 120 volunteers who come together to make the dinner possible, according to Debye Nelson who started the event five years ago.
Nelson, who said she had previously worked for Habitat for Humanity International, said she was looking for a way to help out the community.
“I called the Salvation Army before Thanksgiving and they said there were no volunteers so they weren’t putting on a dinner,” Nelson said. “I was appalled, so we got to work and organized (the Thanksgiving dinner) in a week and a half.”
Two years later she started working with Nora Reill and now the two start planning for the event in August.
This year volunteers cooked 18 turkeys that will end up serving about 300 people, Nelson said.
Jean Colbourne said she has “been on both ends of homelessness” in the 26 years she has lived in Bend and recently fell on hard times after a divorce. She and her boyfriend, Tracy Stiefer, decided at the last minute to head to the church for a meal.
“We hadn’t eaten today and we thought about going out but the budget’s tight so we thought ‘bingo, let’s go get a meal at the church,’” Colbourne said. “This service means so much to the community and the food ... everything is wonderful.”
Capt. John Tumey, corps officer for the Salvation Army in Bend, said he often gets questions about who is eligible for a free turkey dinner.
“I always tell them whoever is hungry on Thanksgiving,” Tumey said. “The more the merrier.”
He said the food and flowers for the event were donated by area businesses and restaurants, and volunteers arrived at 7 a.m. to set everything up.
Tumey said the Salvation Army is looking for even more volunteers to help during the holiday season.
“We need kettle ringers because the more people we get out ringing with the kettles, the more money we can get to help people in the area,” he said.
Starting today, the Salvation Army will have 22 collection kettles at locations around Bend and Redmond, according to Tumey.
He said the organization also needs businesses to adopt needy families who have applied to the Department of Human Services for donations of toys and food at Christmas.
“There are small to large families that have filled out applications and they don’t know if they are going to get adopted,” Tumey said. “Businesses can donate just food, just toys, or toys and food. Some families will also put down that their kids need clothing so whatever a business can give will work.”
The Salvation Army has received about 1,700 applications as of this week, Tumey said.
Anyone interested in the adopt-a-family program should call 389-8888.
Cindy Powers can be reached at 541-617-7812 or at cpowers@bendbulletin.com.
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