Celebrating Thanksgiving at Catholic Charities Programs
Providing Thanksgiving Meals to People Experiencing Homelessness
Each Thanksgiving, many people have food on their minds — but what does this holiday look like for people who don’t have reliable access to food or housing? We spoke with Ms. Bev, chef at the Minneapolis Opportunity Center, to hear about how she serves people experiencing homelessness each Thanksgiving. After nearly twenty years with Catholic Charities, Ms. Bev has a reputation for her custom menus and her holiday meals are always a hit.
Over a week in advance, guests “started asking what I was going to cook for the holiday,” shared Ms. Bev. And after years of preparing Thanksgiving meals for hundreds of hungry Opportunity Center guests, it was no surprise that Ms. Bev already had a plan. “The menu this year is turkey and dressing, green bean casserole, fruit salad, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, assorted pies, punch, and coffee,” she explained.
One longtime volunteer, Anne Gallick, comes to the Minneapolis Opportunity Center each year the week of Thanksgiving with one goal: to peel all the potatoes. She helped peel potatoes by chance her first year and decided that it would be her specialty. She attends each year with her own peeler in hand — typically preparing more than 50 pounds of potatoes. Similarly, the Deeg family has a tradition of volunteering to come in each year and carve turkeys. Ms. Bev will start her morning at the Opportunity Center at 4:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving, where she will finish preparing 50 pounds of green beans, 50 pounds of stuffing, and guide her volunteers as they carve into 16 turkeys.
Collaborating to Feed the Community
The Mary F. Frey Minneapolis Opportunity Center is a pillar of our community’s emergency services infrastructure. The Opportunity Center is a day shelter that offers hot meals, showers, mail service, employment counseling, and more — including on Thanksgiving Day.
On Thanksgiving, Ms. Bev and her team will be able to set tables and serve all the guests that come in for the holiday. “I fancy the dining room up using a red tablecloth on each table with a small bowl of candy for each guest,” explained Ms. Bev. “We have everybody leave the space before the meal until we get every table set, and then invite them back in and serve them individually.”
After the Thanksgiving meal is served at the Opportunity Center, Ms. Bev usually starts her second shift cooking for 15 family members at her house. Ms. Bev says, “it’s a lot of work, but I like it.”
Thanks to staff like Ms. Bev and partners like Second Harvest Heartland, Catholic Charities provides Thanksgiving meals at all ten of the agency’s meal programs and seven residential buildings where residents typically cook for themselves.
Feeding Neighbors in St. Paul
For the past 20 years, Ron has volunteered at Catholic Charities Dorothy Day Place campus in St. Paul. He started volunteering in the kitchen at the recommendation of a friend, and is also part of a special group of season volunteers there.
For the past 15+ years, a group of five retired men has gathered at Catholic Charites Dorothy Day Place on the day before Thanksgiving to carve turkeys in preparation for the annual Thanksgiving Dinner. The Wednesday morning turkey-carving festivities are filled with a spirit of camaraderie, laughter, and loyalty. This group of dedicated men typically carve about 37 turkeys — just enough to feed the 700+ people that rely on the daytime shelter at Dorothy Day Place on an average day.
