Joe Stanton, left and Mary Booker prepares meals to go at the annual Community Thanksgiving Feast in Texas City Thursday. Volunteers from churches and business helped serve and deliver meals to senior citizens, shut-ins and disabled.
TEXAS CITY — A Thanksgiving Day feast for 1,000 people brought together a community of volunteers, who each year are inspired by the blessings of helping those left lonely and hungry on a day meant for fellowship with family and friends.
Barbara White, of Texas City, has organized the event in its 13th year. She praised the roughly 250 volunteers, including Texas City Mayor Matthew T. Doyle, and his brother, County Commissioner Patrick Doyle, who delivered meals to those without wheels.
The Doyle family, as it has for about four years, was among those delivering turkey, dressing and all the fixings to the less fortunate, including the homebound and families without transportation.
“Today was a short ride,” Patrick Doyle said, as his family delivered meals to a young couple at Coral Manor Apartments.
“Last year, we delivered to one woman in Hitchcock who could barely get to the door, and she invited us in to eat. It’s a great cause.”
White started the tradition, feeding 150 in her first year at St. Johns United Methodist Church, but a devastating September fire forced her to find another home for the feast, which was held this year at Kukral Hall at Our Lady of Fatima School.
“It’s grown every year,” White said. “This is my home. This is my community. I feel it’s the least I could do.”
Joseph Moss, 54, of Texas City, cherished the Thanksgiving Day gathering, as his parents have died and his closest relatives were out of town for the holiday.
“It makes me feel good to come and eat and be with people,” Moss said.
White and volunteer Peggy Blizzard, who coordinated the kitchen, enjoy helping others, even if it means spending time away from family.
“Just to help people is very rewarding,” Blizzard said.
“My mother wags her finger at me and says, ‘We eat at 1:30 p.m., and it would be nice if you were on time,’” White joked.
White estimated volunteers delivered 600 meals, including many to the homebound who enjoy the company of visitors, she said.
“Their husbands or wives have died, and their family doesn’t live close enough to visit,” White said. “They’re on fixed incomes and can’t jump in a car or plane to go to Timbuktu. Money doesn’t allow them to go, so we take care of them.”
The feast wouldn’t be possible without help from nine churches this year and the United Way, White’s sponsor, she said.
Although the meals and several winter coats were given away, one guest, Regis Meyers, who was a Texas City High School drum major in 1946-47, refused to take lunch without making a donation.
“I usually try to turn down donations,” White said. “But sometimes you run into someone who insists.”
