MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU) — Marshfield’s 15th annual ‘Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner’ serves up free turkey and other Thanksgiving Day goodies starting at 11:00 on Thursday.
Jan Altmann is one of the event organizers, and says it’s a time to share the real meaning of Thanksgiving, and make everyone feel right at home. “Just like we’d invite you into our own home, that’s what we want it to feel like,” Altmann explained. “Like you’re coming into somebody’s home to have a dinner, to relax and enjoy each others company, and just appreciate the day.”
The meal attracts a wide range of people ranging from those new to town, to the elderly, to those who are truly needy and alone. “They can just come in, sit down, and we can serve them right at their table,” Altmann says. “There’s no need to walk through a line with a plate or anything. And it’s the traditional turkey dinner. We have the turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce.”
The dinner usually serves around 300 people, and another 200 meals are often carried out to the home-bound and community volunteers.
With all those meals served, that means hundreds of pounds of homemade dressing, about a 100 pounds of potatoes, and heaps of cranberries. When it comes to the turkeys, Altmann said, “We have about 20 turkeys that we’ll be cooking, so we’ll be serving about 250 lbs. of turkeys all together.”
The dinner is free and no reservations are necessary, but free will offerings will be accepted.
That meal is being put on as a partnership between a variety of community groups who donate and help prepare the food, and it runs from 11:00 until 1:00 on Thanksgiving Day at the American Legion, 1102 S. Oak Avenue in Marshfield.
