Published: December 02, 2008 10:40 pm      

Community Thanksgiving dinner feeds about 3,000

EDMOND — Dark turkey meat, ham and vegetables were popular items at Edmond’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which fed about 3,000 people.

Mike Laska, longtime volunteer and organizer, said there were 1,050 meals served in the dining room on the University of Central Oklahoma campus, 325 home deliveries and 1,695 meals given to charities, a total of 3,070 meals. About 2,500 people were served last year, the first year for UCO to host the event.

“It was a great success this year,” Laska said. “We’re looking forward to having it again at UCO next year.”

Laska said tables were set up for 274 and there were no lines. In a matter of minutes guests made it through the serving line to their seats, he said. As soon as people were finished, tables were cleaned by volunteers; there were 600 in all.

In addition to a lack of lines, the dining environment was enhanced by piano music and the excellent lobby outside the ballroom, Laska said.

About 185 turkeys were prepared in the kitchens of four churches — First Presbyterian Church, The Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, First Christian of Edmond and New Covenant Methodist Church. It took about 50 pick up truck loads to move everything from the churches to the campus.

First United Methodist Church and Channing Unitarian-Universalist Church prepared a few hundred pounds of stuffing and St. Monica’s peeled 1,000 pounds of potatoes.

The first time the Community Thanksgiving Dinner was served in Edmond was Thanksgiving Day 1981.