The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Resident cooks 16th annual feast for students
Mary Arcaro has been the head cook for the Re-Education Services Thanksgiving Feast since 2003, cooking and gathering food for students to enjoy the week of thanksgiving.
Although the event no longer receives the donations it once did, the traditional feast continued on Nov. 20 and Arcaro played the role of both cook and primary donor.
“I’m usually busy the week before,” Arcaro said, “...buying my (three) turkeys and getting everything prepared. And then I start Sunday by cooking the turkeys...”
Arcaro added that a few grocers had donated food in the past, but stopped about five or six years ago. So now, she buys and cooks most of the food herself. One student had even written a note asking for strawberries and his request was kindly met.
“This is my thanksgiving for them,” Arcaro said. “It’s my way of thanking for all the good things that we do have.”
She highlighted the family aspect of the meal, both figuratively and literally. While most of the meal preparation takes place at Arcaro’s Painesville home before being brought to ReEducation Services in Mentor, her daughters and inlaws help transport and serve the food. Arcaro mentioned that as she grows older, she doesn’t have the same strength she used to.
“I have a stove upstairs and down in the basement, so it’s up and down,” Arcaro said. “My youngest daughter comes and helps take everything to the car for me. It takes a couple days.”
This year, Arcaro brought four of her roasters full of food for the banquet table. They served multiple helpings of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, salads and dessert.
Students and teachers lined up to choose what they wanted, before sitting down to enjoy it together. Meanwhile, Arcaro continued running food from the kitchen to the table where her family helped serve it.
“It’s a process, but after so many years, I could do it in my sleep,” Arcaro said. “After this is all over, then (we’ll) just take everything back home. But there’s usually not much stuff left.”
The students enjoyed the food at tables they had decorated with paper pumpkins, on which they wrote something they were thankful for. Tables were lined with giant sheets of paper for mostly younger students to draw on as they ate. After the meal, they performed skits.
“We have kids who don’t eat, normally,” Associate Teacher Jodi Trombley said. “Sometimes this is the only holiday meal they’ll get. They love it. They’re very grateful for it.”
Arcaro is also no exception to the gratitude of the students.
“They’re all thankful,” she said. “They all say thank you, and they’re well-mannered. A lot of the older kids have been here quite a while, so you get to know them.”
She also highlighted the generosity of the community, including her son-inlaw and Re-Ed president, Fred Frisco.
“He’ll do anything for these kids, he’s very good with them,” Arcaro said. “And the staff also. He’ll usually treat them to dinner for Christmas... At the beginning of the school year, every day for five days, they’ll have some kind of a luncheon for them... He’s always giving back.”
While Frisco joined students and teachers at a cafeteria table to share the meal, his mother-in-law monitored and maintained the feast she provided. The room was full of smiles, happy talking and plenty of thanksgiving turkey.
Arcaro added that “it’s not just a school, it’s a family.”