PORT ANGELES — Some came to Queen of Angels on Thursday for a delicious meal they could never afford.
Others feasted in the church’s gymnasium for the camaraderie of it all.
Either way, Reath Ellefson made sure that all 300 who attended the community dinner in Port Angeles had a place to go on Thanksgiving.
“This is like giving myself a gift,” said Ellefson, feast organizer. “It was so wonderful. It made me so happy to see all those smiling faces here.”
In just three years, Ellefson’s dream feast has become the largest Thanksgiving supper on the North Olympic Peninsula.
There was so much food Thursday that 100 went home with leftovers.
“It surpassed my expectations,” Ellefson said.
The inaugural supper at the Catholic church drew about 160 guests in 2008. Last year’s meal drew about 250.
The community suppers are paid for by donations and run by a team of volunteers.
“I probably had 50-plus volunteers,” Ellefson said. “I’d say it was more on the plus side.”
Some of the volunteers traveled from as far as Idaho to pitch in.
“That was awesome,” Ellefson said.
Ellefson, a 53-year-old cancer survivor, scurried around the gym changing food platters, checking on the kitchen and greeting the guests who dined on 27 festively adorned tables.
Ellefson has battled cancer for 18 years. She told the Peninsula Daily News in 2008 that she started the Thanksgiving dinner so that she could spend what might be her last Thanksgiving bringing people together and giving back to those who have supported her.
“She [Ellefson] is the one who organizes it all and makes all this happen,” said Adam Williams, a 2005 Port Angeles High School graduate who now lives and works in Portland, Ore.
Williams and several other volunteers greeted guests and signed them in for an ongoing raffle that featured more than 100 holiday-themed prizes.
On the other end of the court, a line of volunteers served turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, ham, greens, corn, fruit, fruit salads, pies, cakes and chocolates.
“We cooked 14 turkeys, six hams and 100 pounds of potatoes,” Ellefson said.
Chayenne Hicks of Port Angeles dined beside her 6-month-old twins, Aedrian and David Warwick, early in the three-hour feast.
“It’s pretty good, actually,” Hicks said of the food.
Also with Hicks was her mother, Tara, and brothers, Johnny, 15, and Juston, 11.
“The green stuff is a little strange,” Johnny said. “A lot of heart, though.”
In the coming weeks, Ellefson will undergo another round of chemotherapy in Seattle. She said sharing Thanksgiving with the community lifts her spirits and “means everything to me.”
“This is my passion,” Ellefson said.
“If I could feed the world, I would do that.”
The Queen of Angels community supper was one of several free Thanksgiving meals served in Clallam County on Thursday.
Here are the estimated turnouts for other Thanksgiving Day meals:
• For the second straight year, about 150 attended the Hardy’s Market feast in Sequim. Hardy’s Market serves the meal to thank customers for their support.
• Roughly 70 guests attended the Serenity House community Thanksgiving dinner at the Single Adult Shelter in Port Angeles.
• Thirty-seven attended a free Thanksgiving feast for Clallam Bay and Sekiu residents at the Sekiu Community Center.
“We had a nice turnout,” said Kathleen Haney, an organizer.
“It was a different group — more people shut in [by the weather] and a couple of families.”
• Olympic Medical Center served a Thanksgiving lunch and Thanksgiving dinner for $10 a plate at Season’s Cafe at the Port Angeles hospital.
A supervisor there said the number of attendees would not be available until today.
• Calls to Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim, Veterans of Foreign Wars in Sequim and Feeding the Five Thousand in Forks — all of which hosted free Thanksgiving meals Thursday — were not returned Thursday evening.
• Some feasts were served the day before Thanksgiving. The Salvation Army served 135 people at its Wednesday meal, while the Serenity House Dream Center served 13.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
