WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – The Friends Thanksgiving Dinner is in its 55th season of providing a hot meal and heartwarming memories to Wausau-area community members.
It began with members of the First Presbyterian Church’s youth group deciding to spend one night baking turkeys for community members, and since then it’s blossomed into serving food and smiles to over 800 people per year.
“It’s feeding people in the community, but it’s also fellowship, bringing people into the church and letting them know we care, and being able to spend time with those members in our community,” Co-coordinator of the Friends Thanksgiving Dinner Korrin Black said.
Over the past few years, Black has seen some changes in the program stemming from economic issues. The first visible difference is the number of people coming to receive the dinners.
“When I first started nine years ago, I think we were at 400-ish deliveries, last year we were upwards of 650, almost 700 — fed about 800 people total last year, and we anticipate that number increasing this year,” Black said. “We’ve gotten more calls for reservations of single-family homes. We have always had really good numbers coming from residential facilities, but our increase in single-family reservations has increased almost double.”
An increase in people means an increase in food needed for meals. However, the amount of donations has decreased, leading the group to make hard choices. Where they once received all their turkeys through donations, this year only about half of their 40 turkeys are donated and the rest are purchased.
“We are always looking for donations because of the cost of food increasing, we have definitely noticed that our donations have dwindled the past few years,” Black said. “We used to get cans of pumpkin and cans of corn and all the above and so it definitely is taking its toll. We are not limiting the number of people we are feeding; we are just having to be very resourceful.”
Decreasing the number of people served is not an option for Korrin. She wants to continue the tradition not only for the community but for her passion for service.
“I love when I get to walk out into the Fellowship Hall and see everybody eating the food that we so painstakingly took time to make, and I think that’s my favorite part,” she said. “My husband and my children, my parents come and have Thanksgiving, and this year, some of my siblings and nieces and nephews are actually going to come so. Just makes my heart very full.”
As of Friday evening, they already have all their food items and are set up with volunteers, but they are accepting cash donations. To donate, contact their email at friendsdinnerwausau@gmail.com or call 715-846-5612.
Friday is the last day to sign up for delivery dinners. Meals should be delivered by 1:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
Anyone is welcome to join the sit-down Friends Thanksgiving Dinner on Thanksgiving Day, located in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church. The dinner runs from 1:30 to 3 p.m. The meal includes turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing from scratch, homemade gravy and corn, dinner rolls and cranberries, and pumpkin pie for dessert.
“You don’t need a reservation for the sit-down meal. You show up, we seat you, and you’re served like you’re sitting in a restaurant,” Black said. “Join us! Come and share a meal! I know a lot of people want to volunteer and that is lovely, that is great, but we could also use happy smiling faces, come be part of your community, sit down, and have a conversation with somebody you’ve never met before.”
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