MENDOCINO CO., 12/31/24 — It was a community event in every sense! More than 200 coast residents, including some from as far away as Elk, volunteered to prepare and serve well over a thousand Thanksgiving meals to Mendocino Coast residents from Westport to Albion. And thanks to their donations of money, goods, and services, at least a hundred more people were engaged and involved in this amazing undertaking.
This was the 28th year of the Mendocino Coast Community Thanksgiving Dinner, hosted by the Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church. What started as a church-wide effort to serve meals to a couple hundred people has turned into a six-month endeavor to provide a free meal, share the spirit of the season, and create the sense of being part of something much greater than oneself.
This event builds upon relationships that already exist in our community through other nonprofit events and endeavors. As one restaurant owner shared, “Making a difference in our community, whether for our schools, feeding people in need, or just helping others less fortunate, makes my day.” This year, local restaurants stepped up to provide food for all the volunteers working long hours on the weekend before, and the week of Thanksgiving to slice, cut, peel, and prepare all the food. Everyone notices the work done on the holiday, but the bulk of the effort and need for volunteer stamina is during the days preceding.
Troy Mellott warms up mashed potatoes that will be served during the 28th year of the Mendocino Coast Community Thanksgiving Dinner, hosted by the Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church in Fort Bragg, Calif, on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Kathy Hart/Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church via Bay City News)
This year saw an increase in outreach to our community’s unhoused population. Working in a collaborative partnership with the Fort Bragg Police Department’s Care Response Unit (CRU), the Fort Bragg Food Bank, the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, and the Evergreen Methodist Church, more than 92 meals were provided — a 40% increase over last year. It was a multipronged effort consisting of a delivery van being loaded with meals and traveling to five stops from Mendocino to Fort Bragg. Two volunteers at the Food Bank distributed dinners to whomever arrived, and Evergreen Methodist Church volunteers picked up meals to distribute.
The CRU team came up with the idea of creating a meal voucher, which listed all the sites where food was available, and these were distributed by community partners several weeks prior to Thanksgiving. This also served to provide a clearer idea of how many meals would be needed. All dinners served as part of the Community Thanksgiving Dinner are by reservation only, except for the meals provided to the unhoused. And while joy was certainly in the air on Thanksgiving for most involved, there were a few that get lost between the cracks. According to Kathy Hart, volunteer director for the 2024 event, “We try to put in back-up systems to ensure food is delivered, but glitches do happen when trying to feed this many people.”
This is when neighbors helping neighbors kicks in. In one instance a resident from senior housing thought she had reserved meals to have delivered on Thanksgiving. Due to missed communication, she was not signed up. She tried calling the church office for about an hour but wasn’t able to get through. She then thawed some hamburger and cooked a delicious casserole for her and her three friends. While she’s received some teasing for serving a hamburger casserole on Thanksgiving, she was the neighbor who made Thanksgiving special for her visiting friends.
Community residents arrive for dinner at the 28th year of the Mendocino Coast Community Thanksgiving Dinner, hosted by the Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church in Fort Bragg, Calif, on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Kathy Hart/Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church via Bay City News)
Nearly 30 pairs of drivers navigated the backroads to hand-deliver more than 575 meals. Meals were also dropped off to working park rangers at MacKerricher, Russian Gulch, and Van Damme. All drivers attended a one-hour orientation prior to taking on this responsibility, learning about how to be prepared when picking up the meals (a clean car and room to pack in 25+ bags of meals is a must!), and what to do when they arrive at someone’s home. According to one driver team, “We spent about an hour and half learning areas I thought I knew. It was the most fun!”
A question that is continually asked is “Who really benefits?” The sentiment of one of this year’s volunteers may sum it up: “When I go home after being at the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, I feel joy, gratitude, and sense of purpose. I know I helped someone enjoy their Thanksgiving, and they certainly helped me to enjoy mine. That’s what it’s all about: caring for one another.”
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