SEQUIM — On Thanksgiving Day, Dianne Drake stands in the middle of a circle — people and pots of gravy swirling around her.
Drake and her husband, Allen, hosted their 12th annual free Harvest Dinner on Thursday at the Sunshine Cafe, where some 140 people typically come to feast on turkey and fixings with no prices attached.
Admission is free, but many guests make donations — of food and cash — and this year, Drake decided to give the income to Mary Beth Beuke and her family.
“This family needs your help,” a customer told Drake recently, showing her a newspaper article about Beuke’s long battle with colon cancer.
A Sequim artist and mother of three, Beuke, 50, underwent chemotherapy most of last summer and had surgery in Seattle on Oct. 2.
After over a month at Avamere Olympic Rehabilitation in Sequim, she came back home last Tuesday night.
So Drake and her extended family — husband Allen; son John; grandson Zen; friends Keith Kaetterhenry, Jessica and Jeramie O’Dell and their girls Paige, 15, and Makenna, 13 — were all together in Sunshine’s tiny kitchen at 135 W. Washington St. early Thursday morning.
“I cook six turkeys,” with all of the traditional accompaniments, Drake said.
This includes foods donated by local residents such as Luke Robins, Peninsula College’s president.
Part of prep crew
Robins arrived to join the prep crew Thursday morning, wearing a serious expression.
Drake, meanwhile, looked relaxed. She’s been in the restaurant business three decades, has owned Sunshine since 2001 and, frankly, loves Thanksgiving for the giving part.
“It’s a circle,” Drake said.
“It’s amazing.”
Shortly before opening Sunshine’s door at noon Thursday, Drake had reservations for more than 100 guests.
Some $350 in donations had already come in.
In past years, when Drake’s Harvest Dinner has raised money for other local charities, more than $1,400 has flowed in.
Beuke, reached at home Wednesday, said she was touched beyond words by Drake’s gift.
“She came to the hospital and said, ‘I want the proceeds to go to you.’ I almost didn’t hear her for a minute,” Beuke recalled.
Drake is a relatively new friend, she added. Beuke has many supporters she’s known most of her 20 years in Sequim, but she and Drake have been acquainted for only a few years.
Beuke wasn’t strong enough to go to the Harvest Dinner and said she was looking forward to apple pie and board games at home.
“The kiddos will be here,” she said of her daughter Elise, a senior at Sequim High School, and 12-year-old twins Emma and Blaise.
Beuke does plan to be at the Sunshine Cafe next Friday, Dec. 5.
That’s the night of a First Friday Art Walk event inside the cafe, with Beuke displaying her sea-glass and silver jewelry and The Ultimate Guide to Sea Glass, the book she published earlier this year.
As for Drake, she’s back at Sunshine today, decorating for First Friday and the rest of the season.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
