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Community Corner

Volunteers Assemble Largest Thanksgiving Day Feast in the County

Volunteers worked all day Wednesday to prepare to feed over 1000 people at the Civic Center on Thanksgiving

Volunteers gathered in the kitchen of the Santa Cruz Bible Church on Frederick Street Wednesday, and worked all day to prepare a Thanksgiving feast of biblical proportions.

Officially known as the Friends of Thanksgiving Day Feast, the meal was organized this year by the Acts of Love Foundation, a locally based nonprofit, and is the largest Thanksgiving day feast in Santa Cruz county.

The meal will be held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium from Noon to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and is open to everyone. The feast is expected to draw between 1000 and 1200 diners.

Wednesday's volunteers made sure there will be more than enough to go around, as they as they prepared over 60 turkeys, weighing in at 1,263 pounds. The soporific birds were baked en masse in the ovens of the Pacific Cookie Company. The volunteers also prepared 350 pounds of potatoes, 240 pounds of brussels sprouts, 400 pounds of parsnips, 200 pounds of beets, 175 pounds of stuffing, and over 300 pounds of various types of winter squash, among a deluge of other seasonal foodstuffs.

The vast majority of the food was donated by Route 1 Farms, with additional supplies donated by Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Staff of Life, and New Leaf.

Around 40 volunteers gathered on Wednesday to prepare the feast, and nearly 250 are expected to coordinate the actual feast on Thanksgiving.

This was the second year for Stephen Beaumier, 30, as coordinating chef for Wednesday's feast preparation efforts. 

"I just love doing this type of stuff," said Beaumier. "It's challenging, I meet new people, and I get to use my strengths for something that really matters. Everyone can bring what they have to the table, and that's when great things can happen."

Many volunteers felt they were contributing to something important. 

"It's not about how it makes me feel or how it makes me look; it's about doing the right thing," said Stephen Nelson, who has worked with people without homes for over ten years. 

"I'm a product of this planet, and now it's all about giving something back. It shows that this thing we call Democracy works; and besides, it's fun. The more I do this, the more I feel the need to do this."

The feast has traditionally been coordinated and hosted at the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building, but following its closure in January of 2010, when engineers declared it seismically unsound, the event has been coordinated by Acts of Love Foundation, and has used the kitchen at the Santa Cruz Bible Church.

Dennis Adams coordinated the preparation of the feast.

"My whole goal is to make sure people have a great, fresh meal on Thanksgiving. This time of year is there are a lot of people going through struggles. And not just homeless people, this event is for everyone who is hungry, or who just doesn't want to make dinner, who wants a warm atmosphere to put their feet up and enjoy the holiday."

This is Adams second year organizing the event, filling in for the vets who have a nearly 20 year history of hosting the feast in Santa Cruz.

Adams said that his organization has a non-competitive relationship with the veterans. 

"We will hand it back over as soon as the vets recover their space."

Adams estimated that the veterans will have a new location by 2013. 

The Friends of Thanksgiving Day Feast will be held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on Thursday from noon to 3 p.m., and is open to everyone.

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