Serving those in need on Thanksgiving
group of volunteers will fill 1,060 laundry baskets with all the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast to be delivered to families that otherwise wouldn’t have the means to cook the meal in their own homes. That’s up from 50 baskets in 2011.
Mr. Waite has always preferred to serve behind the scenes. Even, he says, if it’s something of a challenge to arrive on the North Side long before the rest of the city wakes up. By 5 a.m. he’ll be busy opening and draining 80 six-pound cans of beans, to which he’ll add diced onion and bacon bits and, after they’re cooked, douse in butter. As usual, he’ll be wearing his favorite denim shirt with “Green Bean King” embroidered on the chest.
“It’s a big commitment, but I really enjoy it,” he says. “I always walk away feeling very blessed.”
And because his shift starts so early, he’ll be back home in plenty of time to enjoy a second Thanksgiving meal with his own family.
Rainbow Kitchen also relies on a dedicated core of volunteers to prepare and serve the 100 or so meals the Homestead nonprofit provides to those in need on Thanksgiving. But there’s a twist. The dinner is the complete handiwork of The Neighborhood Academy’s basketball team. Not only do the teenagers raise the $700 it costs to purchase ingredients that haven’t been donated, but they go to the supermarket to buy it, prepare all the dishes at home and don waiters’ jackets to serve it. They even do the dishes.
Director Donna Little says it’s as good an experience for the students as the low-income guests they serve, many of whom also participate in the kitchen’s breakfast and food pantry programs. “They get to give back, and do something that really makes a difference to someone else,” she says, in a way that strikes home.
The tradition started in 2003 as a way for co-founder and head of school the Rev. Thomas Johnson to help students at the college-preparatory high school for low-income kids in Stanton Heights to contribute to their communities. “They discover there’s a joy in service,” he says, “that they have the ability to make good things happen for others.
Preparing for the event, Rev. Johnson jokes, is like planning the Normandy invasion. But it’s gratifying, too, in that the kids — who are forbidden to ask Mom for help — have come to enjoy the experience that they actually fight over who gets to cook what.
“And these guys can rock in the kitchen,” he says, adding, “It’s magical.”
At Jubilee Soup Kitchen, Uptown, volunteers usually come via word of mouth. And they tend to come back time and again because it’s so rewarding, says director Paulette Blasko. Monique Hickerson of the Hill District is a prime example: the Duquesne Light retiree has been there “too many years to count” but it makes her feel so good to give back, she can’t stay away. “And I love the camaraderie,” she says, not just of the guests, many of whom are homeless, addicted or recovering from a life of addiction, but also of fellow volunteers such as Rahman Shareef of Wilkinsburg. A retired IT consultant, Mr. Shareef started volunteering at the kitchen three years ago because one the central principles of his Muslim faith is helping others. It quickly became habit. “I know them, and they know me and I’m here to help and inspire them,” he says.
“It’s like family,” agrees kitchen manager Heather Rizzo of Hazelwood, who has been there for 21 years.
This feeling of home is especially important during the holidays to guests who don’t have actual family nearby or even any place to go. People like David Walker, a homeless man who defines home as “anywhere that’s semi-warm.”
While he doesn’t really celebrate Thanksgiving, he says he enjoys a “familiarness and camaraderie with people” at Jubilee Kitchen. “And the price is right,” he quips.
Because the kitchen is so small — they serve about 100 each day — Jubilee can only accommodate about 20 volunteers. Come Thursday, after setting a holiday mood with games of bingo, they’ll help prepare the side dishes that will accompany the donated turkeys roasted the day before. They’ll also put together bagged lunches using fruit from 412 Food Rescue so guests have something to eat that evening.
As at Light of Life, much of the food served comes from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which in a typical November counts some 60,000 pounds of sweet potatoes, 150,000 pounds of potatoes and 60,000 pounds of apples, among the more than 2 million pounds donated. This year, the organization also has purchased more than 300,000 pounds of other foods specifically geared toward holiday meals, including 6,000 pounds of turkeys and 3,000 pounds of gravy mix, says communications and PR manager Beth Burrell.
And if your help isn’t needed on Thanksgiving? You can always sign up to volunteer on another day, or look for other ways to contribute. Light of Life, for instance, could still use cookies to serve with hot chocolate in a tent outside the mission throughout the day, where guests in need will be picking out warm winter coats.