A community gives thanks
<p>Eight-month old Isabella Lott helped herself to some Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie with help from mom, Allena Lott. The ninth annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner was held at the community center in Ronan and provided guests with a warm meal, live music and a strong sense of community.</p>
<p>Patrick Hemline, age 6, finishes up Thanksgiving dinner with his grandpa, Vernon Christopher.</p>
RONAN — Those familiar Thanksgiving smells filled the senses Thursday afternoon as the 9th Annual Ronan Community Thanksgiving Dinner was under way. Although, making it to the serving area might take a bit longer than expected with the pleasant hum of old friends catching up and new ones being made, accompanied by live music.
This year the event was hosted by co-chairmen, Cheri Houle and Brennin Grainey. Houle described the organizing process as being “like a piece of Thanksgiving Pie, with everyone taking a slice of the work.”
Grainey chimed in, “with Cheri being the spatula that serves the pie.”
Brennin believed that there were about 30 or so volunteers with contributions made by some 50 families.
“The support is just wonderful,“ Grainey remarked, “once we got the word out people came out of the woodwork to help.”
He said, “I remember coming into my office one morning and I already had 10 messages from people wanting to volunteer.”
In the kitchen Randy Doss was in charge of slicing up the turkey. “My whole family is here today helping out. It is a great thing for the community,” Doss said.
All the usual Thanksgiving dishes were being served, from turkey and stuffing to potatoes and gravy, and a wide desert selection, all contributed by members of the community.
Houle said, “we had 22 turkeys this year, and people are still bringing them through the door.”
“People look forward to the event, “ Houle added,
“I see some of the same people come every year!”
When lively dancer Larry Miller was asked what the best part of the party was he grabbed his tummy and said, “it’s all about the gravy and the company!”
The sense of communtiy was apparent wherever you looked, with James Pettit and his Little Big Band donating their time to the event by playing some swinging music that led to people of all ages hitting the dance floor.
Or whether it was the familiar face of Marie Cowen, the lady responsible for the first community Thanksgiving dinner back in 1997. Cowen owned Marie’s Diner back then and said, “I knew about 30-40 people with nowhere to go so I thought, why not have a dinner here?”
And from there Cowen ended up preparing some 900 meals, “we ran out of food!” Cowen exclaimed, “so I fired up the grill and started making burgers.”
After that experience, Cowen said, “that was the last year I held the event, as you can imagine!"