MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – For many Thanksgiving means spending time with family and enjoying a lot of home made food, but not everyone has the opportunity to spend this holiday with others.
A Marquette County Group is working to make sure everyone has a place to eat this Thanksgiving.
Over the 24 hours before Thanksgiving Little Brothers, Friends of the elderly will cook over 200 pounds of potatoes, 100 pounds of turkey, and a lot of stuffing.
“We have about 6 hours of prep time Wednesday, and then we come back at 7am Thursday to finish everything up,” Evelyn Massaro, Little Brothers Volunteer.
The meal is made possible thanks to sponsors and the generosity of the 50 person team of volunteers. They spend hours doing everything from cutting the potatoes to driving and hand delivering meals to people who can’t make the journey to eat in person.
“Overall 20, 25 hours maybe,” remarked Massaro, speaking about the amount of time she puts into helping out.
The feast is centered towards isolated seniors in the area who may not have anywhere else to go. Free of charge they can come enjoy the food and spend time making new connections and giving thanks.
“It really is a comfortable, beautiful situation for everybody that joins us,” commented Danielle Berg, the Program Coordinator for Little Brothers.
The organization is expecting around 40 people in person tomorrow. It will also be hand delivering 125 meals to seniors who for whatever reason are not able to leave the house.
“They are just really appreciative of a home cooked meal, they realize we haven’t bought a bunch of frozen food and stuck it in the oven, we are actually peeling potatoes, boiling and cooking and baking, and doing everything with lots of love,” added Massaro.
The love extends past just the edible part of the meal. Art students from Bothwell Middle School, in Marquette, hand painted the bags that meals will be delivered in.
“That actually tends to be one of the elders’ favorite things when they receive their meal,” said Berg.
This year’s Thanksgiving dinner is all sold out, but Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly is already beginning to plan their Christmas meal.
