The Edmond Sun

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October 3, 2008

UCO to host Thanksgiving dinner again

Mark Schlachtenhaufen

The Edmond Community Thanksgiving Dinner will no longer be served at area churches.

Following last year’s successful inagural event on the University of Central Oklahoma campus, Edmond’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner will be hosted by UCO again this fall.

In 2007, UCO officials offered the Nigh University Center’s ballroom as the location for the holiday dinner, which now serves meals to more than 3,000 each year.

“They felt that the meal was an excellent forum for the university to reach out to the community and generously offered the use of their fine facility,” said Mike Laska, event co-coordinator.

“We will serve once again in the UCO ballroom and we are looking forward to a long relationship serving the greater community.”

The first time the Community Thanksgiving Dinner was served in Edmond was Thanksgiving Day, 1981. It was prepared by Frank and Pat Paradise, members of First Presbyterian Church, for anyone who wished to join them for a Thanksgiving Day dinner.

It was as much a gesture of love as it was convenience for they had a family of six children at that time and they felt surely a few more couldn’t be that difficult, besides it was their hope they could enjoy the company of their church family.

As it turned out about 15-20 showed up for this dinner and all enjoyed it so much organizers resolved to do the same the next year. That next year, 1982, more than 50 people enjoyed food and fellowship for Thanksgiving Day.

For many years, the dinner was prepared and hosted at First Presbyterian Church, but organizers felt it would be more appropriate if some of the other churches represented acted as host for the meal.

This change marked the first time solid organization was needed to structure the preparation, cooking and hosting of the meal. The number of churches involved required far greater organization as well.

Not only did the number of churches grow, but so did the amount of food required. About the 15th year, the food preparation was at St. John The Baptist Catholic Church. St John’s had a large commercial kitchen that aided food preparation, and it was a central location that eased delivery to the seven churches involved at the time.

In 2000, the Edmond Community Thanksgiving Dinner association was begun. It received its 501(c)3 identification from the IRS the following year and its standing as a nonprofit charitable organization became official.

Meals served include those at the host church, meals taken home, scheduled home delivery, meals donated to Jesus House at the end of the day and meals supplied to other charitable organizations throughout the community. They include: Edmond Mobile Meals, Breakfast on Boulevard, Samaritan House, HOPE Center and Cooks Nite Out.

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