Thanksgiving looked a little different at Shepherd’s House Ministries this year.

Homeless guests were given temperature checks instead of handshakes.

Instead of long lines winding through the shelter, guests put in their orders like a restaurant: gravy or no gravy. Dark meat or white meat. Holiday punch or water.

Each guest was escorted to a 6-foot-wide table, set with four chairs and individually wrapped plastic cutlery.

And perhaps the biggest difference was that the Thanksgiving meal wasn’t held at Shepherd’s House at all. Usually, the nonprofit that helps homeless people holds a large gathering at its shelter on Division Street in Bend.

Instead, the meal was served for the first time at Bend’s new warming shelter on Second Street, which opened on Monday. The first night the shelter nearly reached capacity, with 50 to 55 guests, said Ryan Olufson, communications and volunteer coordinator for Shepherd’s House.

All of this was done to make Thanksgiving dinner a reality while also abiding by COVID-19 restrictions, he said.

“It’s definitely challenging,” Olufson said. “Our priority is to keep our guests and volunteers healthy.”

On Wednesday, Olufson said the nonprofit planned to serve 300 people, though they would all have to eat in 30-minute shifts to keep the capacity under 60 people.

“Typically, if a room could hold 100 people, we would be able to fill it,” Olufson said.

But the pandemic and all of the changes that come with it didn’t dissuade Kim Landin from coming out to volunteer on Wednesday. In fact, the pandemic is why she decided to volunteer.

“I’m thinking about if I were in their shoes, what a challenge it would be,” Landin said while prepping her station. She was tasked with taking everyone’s orders before they headed into the dining room.

Landin said given the current economic situation and many people losing their jobs, she couldn’t help but be reminded that more people now than ever need a free meal.

“If that was ever going to happen to me, I think about how much I’d appreciate it,” she said.

She helped guests like Mike Eaton, who said this year was the first Thanksgiving he was going to spend homeless.

He had been living in a motor home for the past nine years. Before that, he lived in a house in Bend, but it was foreclosed upon in 2008, he said.

But in January, his motor home caught on fire, Eaton said. He credits being alive to his 3-year-old dog Clyde, who woke him up when it started.

The 49-year-old longtime Bend resident suddenly had to learn how to live in a tent, he said.

“It was surreal,” Eaton said while sitting on a cot, petting Clyde by his feet.

Before he was homeless, Eaton said he had worked in construction and in the produce section of a grocery store. But then he developed a hernia and was unable to work, he said.

There are obvious struggles that come with living outside, Eaton said, such as learning how to keep moisture out of a tent. Last winter was mild, Eaton said, so he is not sure how he will fare this winter.

But there is also a lot to be grateful for. The homeless community is filled with some of the “nicest, coolest people” you could meet, he said.

“If we all share things, we all have everything together,” Eaton said with a smile.

People in Bend are generally generous, too, he said. He pointed to the Carhartt pants and the Burton-brand jacket he was wearing — all donated by someone locally.

“I feel lucky and grateful,” he said.