WHAT A SWELL PARTY IT WAS

What a super Thanksgiving we had yesterday at our Moose Family Center. We advertised on our local Government Channel and in our County Newspaper that our lodge would be open from 2:00 to 5:00 for a free Thanksgiving dinner to anyone who didn't have a place to go. Our lodge and social quarters were closed and no alcohol was served. We were lucky enough to have food donated by local stores. We had 12 turkeys, 5 hams, 16 pies, potatoes, stuffing, green beans, rolls and another of our district Moose family centers cooked and donated enough yams for 250 people. Boy did we luck out.

We had decided that rather than having people stand in line to be fed, we would personally serve each person, not only bringing their food to them,but also providing soda, coffee or tea which someone would deliver. We had about 20 of our members sacrificing their family Thanksgiving to show up and volunteer, so two were assigned to each table of 10, to provide the service then clean up and reset their table for the next people who showed up. The other volunteers would be the ones who keep the food coming.

First, Ventura County, where we are is under another fire alert this weekend so 30 Fire Fighters from around the state are camped out at one of our local parks, and of course, were invited to join and boy did they ever. Men and women showed up in full uniform, ate their fill along with the first batch of people. Then they did something spectacular. They took over serving, giving our members a chance to eat. It was the best of the Thanksgiving spirit.

The newspaper sent a photographer (we had seen him before when we donated stuffed Moose to our local search and rescue folks) plus a reporter who walked around talking to the firefighters and diners. Our local CountySupervisor also showed up to mingle with everyone.

There was no way to count how many people showed up to eat because we weren't giving out tickets, but there were a few families who filled an entire table. The folks ate and then the kids noticed our back yard playground and basket ball court and once they were done, they rushed outside to play. We also had quite of few senior members of our community who had no other place to eat show up. They kept shaking our hands, thanking us. We figured we serve at least 150 to 200 meals by the end of the day.

Needless to say, everyone decided this would be an annual event. The outpouring of gratitude towards us, completely filled our lodge. We have more than enough love to carry us through the next few months and the memories for those of us who participated will be something we will not soon forget. It was absolutely worth every minute spent, preparing and serving all those wonderful folks who showed up.

Oh, one more thing. In case you are wondering if I blew my diet - well actually, no I didn't. All I had were a few pieces of celery, a few olives and a lot of coffee. Nothing really appealed to me even though as you can see while I was dishing out the food. I am very grateful that the surgery I had a year ago really does work to keep the hunger away. Besides helping me, it saved at least one dinner for the people who were really worthy to share this wonderful feast.