http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/nov/25/free-thanksgiving-meals-chronis/
Other organizations offered free Thanksgiving meals. Here is a summary of how things went at three locations:
• Salvation Army: The charity based in Orchards gave 348 food boxes to people in need, said Beth Kennard, director of family services.
That is about the same number of boxes given away last Thanksgiving week, she said.
The boxes, worth about $50 each, contained a turkey and all the trimmings for a holiday meal and were given out Monday through Wednesday.
“There’s a lot of people who are very thankful,” Kennard said. “Without our assistance, they would not be able to have Thanksgiving.”
She said she sees the effects of a tough economy every day.
“Definitely, the need is up with families. We’re seeing more come in for emergency food.”
Kennard said money for the Thanksgiving boxes came from donations, including money put in the red Salvation Army kettles.
• Eagles Lodge: For the fifth year, the downtown Vancouver lodge invited in the hungry and the cold.
They served 233 breakfasts and 466 dinners, said organizer Dianna Bronkhorst, who is the lodge’s past madame president.
“We also delivered 20 meals to the Value Motel, and we delivered a few others around town,” she said.
Bronkhorst said the lodge starts with a breakfast because they want people who are on the streets to get out of the cold on the holiday.
“We just don’t like them to be by themselves on a holiday,” she said.
Bronkhorst, who works with committee members Leslie Morrison and Bradford Williams for the Thanksgiving event, said, “There was probably a 10 percent increase in the amount of people in here” compared to 2009.
She said the event makes her feel “awesome. This is my heart.”
• Lord’s Gym: Eileen Kinney said the church provides full turkey meals to 200 people on Thursday.
She said the New Life Friends Church at 2410 Grand Blvd. has put on the Thanksgiving event for about five years.
She said people tell her, “God bless you.”
“It’s wonderful. It’s really a good feeling,” she said of providing the holiday meal.
Kinney cooks on Friday nights at the church and 250 to 300 people come for the free meal. Before the meal, she said people pick up surplus food.
She said the church likes to remind people that the gym is open every Saturday night for basketball.
