Community comes together to serve homeless during Thanksgiving

Before Thanksgiving Day was Thanksgiving Wednesday.

The organizers must hold the event on Wednesday since they couldn't gather on Thanksgiving.

All Faiths Food Bank and other organizations provided the food; two Church of the Redeemer parishioners prepared the meals, and volunteers from the church and Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School helped serve the 360 meals.

And many others were involved as well in helping to serve Sarasota's homeless community during the 25th annual Thanksgiving Wednesday Community Luncheon.

The event featured 162 volunteers, with 17 area organizations who helped to put together the event, said Chaplain Tom Pfaff of the Sarasota Ministerial Association.

Held this year at St. Martha Catholic Church, the luncheon also welcomed elected officials including Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, Congressman Greg Steube, Commissioner Mark Smith, and Lt. Thomas Quinlan of the Sarasota Police Department, filling in for Chief Rex Troche.

A coordinated effort

Jeff Trefry of Church of the Redeemer, called the 360 meals served a "pretty monumental run" for the church.

Pfaff also said the luncheon also raised more funds than in the past for its four host organizations, raising $5,754 with Gulf Coast Community Foundation matching the amount.

He attributes that to letting attendees know about the offering in advance, as well as to the event featuring testimonies from each of the organizations: The Salvation Army, Resurrection House, Remnant Cafe and the Ministerial Association.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Chad McKibbin, who described himself as a recovering alcoholic, shared a testimony about the Salvation Army, while also thanking Sarasota County's recovery teams and law enforcement groups who helped bring him to the organization.

"During my stay at Salvation Army, I was able to get outside of myself," he said. "It wasn't all about me anymore. It was about what I could do... I was able to volunteer with Salvation Army in the kitchen... I've been so long in that manipulative, selfish tendencies, that I was able to get outside of myself and realize that there's a big community out there that cares."

The giving in the community was clear at the event.

Pfaff described the luncheon as "the faith community's Thanksgiving, with representatives from the government, from the media, from the schools, from the churches and synagogues."

Photo by Ian Swaby

In charge of preparing the meal were Church of the Redeemer parishioners Janet and Jeff Trefry. 

Jeff says they approached him about filling in for other support about 15 years ago.

The Trefrys took over the responsibilities, while increasing the scale of the operation by adding new sides. 

While they originally prepared the turkeys after another party cooked them off-site, Jeff Trefry has been cooking the turkeys on-site since a redo of the church's kitchen by parishioners five years ago.

To fit the turkeys in the ovens, he will break them down, taking out the backbones and removing the legs. He is also responsible for making the gravy. 

They will return the turkeys to the refrigerators at Redeemer before reheating and taking them in portable hot storage boxes to the luncheon.

Janet, meanwhile, makes the sides, including the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing and cranberry sauce.

All the preparations take about 15 hours, Jeff Trefry says.

Photo by Ian Swaby 

"It's service to the community for me," he said. "Every year I think about it, and it's like, do I really want to do this again? And an overwhelming 'yes' comes over me and says, 'Yeah, we've got to take care of these people."

After the food is ready, it goes to the Men of the Redeemer group, who volunteer with students from Cardinal Mooney's chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

This year, the two dish-up lines each involved six people, with all 360 meals served in about 35 minutes, Jeff Trefry said. 

Pfaff also said 111 table volunteers were present from the Sarasota Ministerial Association to host tables and greet guests.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Scott Scheuer, theology department chair at Cardinal Mooney, said the chapter is now in its 18th or 19th year of volunteering with the event.

He said as the chapter, and as the event grew, his volunteers grew as well. The first year, he said, there were about five or six students, but this year, he said, there were 20 students, four alumni who graduated within the past two years, and 12 parents. 

He said the wait-listed event did not have space for all the volunteers who signed up. 

Caroline Vaughan, a freshman at Cardinal Mooney, said the event was one of her favorites to be part of.

"It's really great how they put it on so we're able to even come and help, because some service things you have to be a certain age, but here you can just do it," Vaughan said. 

Photo by Ian Swaby

"It really gives you an open perspective on things, and to make you value the small things, like having food at Thanksgiving," said junior Ellie Horning. "People take it for granted, but here you could actually help other people, because they don't have a Thanksgiving meal every year."

Lt. Thomas Quinlan of the Sarasota Police Department was among the officials who addressed attendees, stating he saw "a lot of familiar faces" and that it was good to see everyone coming together at that time of year.

"Events like this remind me what makes our community so special. People come together, share a meal, support one another, show compassion in real, tangible ways," he said, stating that amid its outreach efforts, the department also felt the same support.

This story has been updated to correct the name of the foundation providing the matching funds.