PORT ANGELES — More than 1,500 seeking Thanksgiving Day sustenance flocked Thursday to turkey-filled feasts in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
They included Beth Humphrey, 65, of Port Angeles.
The 1968 Sequim High School graduate enjoyed ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy on a day that drew more than 1,000 participants to the eighth annual community Thanksgiving dinner at Queen of Angels Church in Port Angeles.
They came on foot while toting possessions in green garbage bags.
They came riding bicycles, for some perhaps their only mode of transportation.
And they came driving cars, some beat-up, to wait in a line that stretched out the front door before joining those inside for holiday fare.
Many memorialized the day by having photos taken with Santa.
He greeted them before they entered a packed dining room.
Humphrey, who leans heavily on Social Security, said that earlier this year she had her work-week as a residential aide — “a glorified babysitter for adults,” she quipped — cut from 40 hours to 15.
Humphrey mused that it’s tough making ends meet any day of the year, much less Thanksgiving.
Dinner not so cheap
“It’s not as cheap as it used to be to have dinner on a regular basis,” she said.
By 1:30 p.m., dinner organizer Reath Ellefson was frantically hoisting containers of food up the stairs to the kitchen.
“We’re running out,” she exclaimed. “Actually, I’m just blown away.”
“They need gravy!” shouted one of nine helpers on the food line where yams, ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans were ladled onto ready paper plates.
“Gravy!” echoed Sam Minkoff of Port Angeles, whose daughter joined her in Thanksgiving Day volunteer duty.
By afternoon’s end, the stack of 400 take-out containers was gutted, Ellofson said.
Their contents included leftovers from 39 turkeys, 14 hams and 400 pounds of potatoes that were all but gone in a matter of hours.
“That kind of gives you an idea of how much food went out the door,” Ellefson noted.
Chimacum feast
At the Tri-Area Community Center in Chimacum, between 320 and 340 meals were served at the 23rd annual Thanksgiving Day dinner, a record for participation, center Manager Rainy Blankenship said.
The event was sponsored by Olympic Community Action Programs, or OlyCAP, which serves Jefferson and Clallam counties.
For Thanksgiving, the organization reached beyond the Chimacum center’s walls, as volunteers delivered additional dinners to 121 Meals on Wheels clients.
“There is definitely some need,” Blankenship said.
Nan Toby Tyrrell played piano for diners, performing along with vocalist Denny Clark and stand-up bass player Greg Vincent.
Forks feast
The Feeding the 5,000 Thanksgiving Day Dinner brought out 170 people to the Forks Community Center, said Tom LaFrenz, pastor of the Church of the Nazarene.
“It was a great turnout,” he said.
The Feeding of the 5,000 group, so named for the biblical story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, works in collaboration of Forks-area churches.
Other free Thanksgiving dinners served on the North Olympic Peninsula included those in Sequim at Trinity United Methodist Church, Hardy’s Market, and the Sunshine Cafe, and by the Sequim Veterans of Foreign Wars.
An all-community traditional Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by the Brinnon Senior Community Center.
Thanksgiving Eve feasts were hosted by the Salvation Army in Port Angeles and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Port Townsend.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
