Salvation Army serves up holiday meal
Volunteers joined local Salvation Army staff to provide Thanksgiving dinner to dozens of people on Thursday in Texarkana, Ark.
Members of the Liberty-Eylau High School football team served a traditional turkey meal to emergency shelter residents and anyone else who wanted a hot meal at the Salvation Army Gabriel Ross Perot Center of Hope on Hazel Street.
Salvation Army staff worked for days to prepare to serve at least 100 people, said Maj. David Feeser, local commander. No one was turned away Thursday.
“It’s taken quite a while. We’ve been defrosting and cooking turkeys all week long,” he said.
Volunteers also collected donations to buy turkeys for the 20 to 30 families who do not live at the center but depend on the Salvation Army’s food pantry.
This time of year, nobody should go without, Feeser said.
“In the United States, no one should be going hungry, especially on Thanksgiving when it’s all about food,” he said.
The shelter has 20 beds for men, six for women and eleven family units. It is the only shelter in Texarkana with apartment style dormitories and facilities adequate to accommodate children and families. Residents are
served dinner every day.
The Salvation Army has been serving the Texarkana community since 1896, providing a wide range of social services including disaster relief, financial housing placement assistance, clothing and furniture assistance. At Christmas, the organization provides toys and clothes to families and children in need.
Nationally, the Salvation Army serves about 156,000 meals a day, or more than 56 million a year, according to its website.
Randy Sams’ Outreach Shelter and the Potato Patch restaurant also offered free Thanksgiving meals in Texarkana on Thursday.