The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Oneida Rotary helps feed community at annual luncheon
It was a full house at the Kallet Civic Center with hundreds turning out for the 25th annual Rotary Thanksgiving Luncheon.
Between the residents who chose to dine in and enjoy the communal, dinner table atmosphere at the Kallet, and those who requested deliveries, the Oneida Rotary Club served around 400 people on Wednesday.
Plates were served up and delivered by Rotarians and their family members, the Oneida High School Z- Club, the National Honor Society, and students from local schools.
Roger Van Slyke and his grandson Eric Van Slyke sat down at a table with Jean Smith and DennisHeilman, alongwith Angel Seamon for the Thanksgiving luncheon. Until then, none of these Oneida locals had met each other, but had been coming to the luncheon for years.
Upon hearing Seamon’s name, Roger asked if she had any relation to Sonny Seamon.
“No, but I was married to Irving,” Seamon said.
“I used to bowl against Irving years ago,” Roger said. “I knew all the Seamons. We used to have big bowling competitions between each other for steak dinners.”
Smith and Heilman said the Oneida Rotary is a great way to meet and talk with new people.
“We don’t have any family, so this is great for us. Otherwise we’d be alone on Thanksgiving,” Smith said. Deliveries were made to residents get. of the Oneida Towers 1 and 2 who are unable to leave their homes. Additionally, the Rotary Club also brought food to the Hazel L. Carpenter home on Main Street and for the Senior Nutrition and County Kitchen, which helps serve healthy meals for area seniors.
Oneida Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and Rotarian Jennifer Cossette said she was grateful to John Froass of Froass Furniture & Flooring in Sherrill, who donated the use
of their moving truck. Because of this, Oneida Rotary was able to use bigger hotboxes to transport food and make the process of moving food from Dibbles Inn that morning to the Kallet Civic Center easier.
Lizzie Lucas, a 15-yearold of Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse, has just started volunteering with Karing Kitchen and was there to help Oneida Rotary, Interact and Z- Club put together the Thanksgiving feast and all the prep work the hours before the doors open.
“I’m happy to be here to help,” Lucas said. “I think the luncheon is important because we take Thanksgiving for granted. We don’t realize so many people don’t have a family to eat with at their own house.”
Oneida High School Interact MemberMarkMack wasn’t too familiar with the luncheon, being his first year as an Interact member, and understood it would be a huge under- taking to feed the community.
“Oneida isn’t exactly the wealthiest city in the world and it’s good that a lot of these people get to have a Thanksgiving when they’d otherwise not able to,” Mack said.
Smith said it was great of Oneida Rotary to give up the day before Thanksgiving and for all the work they did.
“They used to bring it to the house when Dennis was so sick,” Smith said. “They took him out for cardiac arrest May 23.”
“God bless you sir, glad you’re still with us,” Eric said. “I’m glad you’re able to make it here with us and enjoy some good food.”
Smith said the luncheon is a great chance to see people and talk with others they wouldn’t normally.
The feast marked the culmination of a threeday process that began on Monday when Rotarians and volunteers unloaded bags upon bags of groceries at Dibble’s Inn in Vernon.
Potatoes are peeled, celery is chopped and onions are peeled by the case-full beforehand. Feeding the greater Oneida area requires a lot of food and a lot of prep-work.
Tuesday, volunteers returned to Dibble’s in order to begin dressing and cooking turkeys and prepping other Thanksgiving staples before returning early Wednesday morning for finishing touches.
And after all the prep work, the hard work showed.
Piles of turkey, mountains of mashed potatoes drizzled with warm gravy, heaps of stuffing, golden corn, fresh rolls, and a heart of cranberry dec- orated dinner plates. As with all things Thanksgiving, slices of pumpkin pie with dollops of whip cream and milk or coffee helped finish off the feast. New to the luncheon’s spread this year was squash.
“It brings people together and maybe you sit with someone, talk and develop a pretty good friendship,” Eric said. “Some people would be stuck home for Thanksgiving without the luncheon. Some people wouldn’t have anything. For some people, this is what they look forward to for this time of year.”