Hundreds of hungry, homeless dine at WV Thanksgiving events

Thanksgiving dining began early Thursday at New Joy Ministries in Youngtown.

“It’s a shame to see people in line so early, but we are here to help,” said Jesse Ramirez, director of the Valley View Community Food Bank. “Everything has come together beautifully.”

Ramirez said he saw people lined up an hour before the doors opened at New Joy. Volunteers began serving meals at 10:30 a.m., and within 30 minutes more than 100 people had been served, he said.

“We’ve sent out 75 meals to the homeless already, and we’re getting ready to send out more to the apartments nearby. To people who cannot get out of their homes,” Ramirez said. “In addition to the meals we serve here, we’ll send out over a hundred meals by delivery.”

Ramirez estimated that by the time they shut things down at 3 p.m., close to 400 meals will have been served.

“A lot of thanks goes out to the volunteers,” he said. “We have people here from as far north as Anthem and as far south as Buckeye, and all have come out just for this special day,” Ramirez said. “We have signholders out on the streets, we have servers. We have so much help. It’s really nice.”

The Olive Branch Senior Center played a big part in making the dinner happen as well, he said.

“They cooked our turkeys, and they also did gravy and stuffing,” Ramirez said. “It’s truly amazing. They’ve been so helpful.”

The scene was much the same later in the day at Birt’s Bistro in Surprise. Interfaith Community Care partnered with Chez Nous Center for the fifth annual Thanksgiving celebration and meal. The dinner at Birt’s Bistro was the first at that location, said Joanne Anderson, Interfaith’s vice president of business operations.

“I think it’s going pretty well. This is our first time hosting a dinner here so we tried to keep it small,” she said. “We have 47 meals-to-go that we have sent out, and we’ll probably have 40 to 50 dining in.”

Anderson said dinner was limited to a maximum of 80 and asked for reservations, both because the location is small and because it was the initial year there. But those who did make it over got more than just a meal.

“They’ll get their meal, pumpkin pie for dessert, free refills on their drinks,” she said. “They will get to-go bags full of goodies; they’ll get raffle tickets; and they get to take home their centerpieces, which were a project done by our childcare center and our adult day-care center.”

Anderson said she was particularly happy with her fellow staffers.

“Everyone working here today is volunteering their time,” she said.

Anderson said a Christmas meal and a New Year’s Day lunch is being planned, and there will be limited reservations for those occasions as well.

“We encourage anyone who wants to eat to sign up,” she said. “These meals are paid for completely through donations, so it is free to anyone who wants to eat.”

Jeff Dempsey may be reached at 623-876-2531 or jdempsey@yourwestvalley.com.