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Volunteers in Caledonia , New Albin will ‘serve’ the community this Thanksgiving
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By Craig Moorhead
For the Caledonia Argus
Elsie Rud sat for a minute amid the bustle of noon hour diners. She spoke about the meaning of the holiday. “We treat Thanksgiving as being thankful for what we have and we want everyone to have something to be thankful for. If that”s giving them a meal that would make them happy then that’s what we try to do.”
As the owner of Elsie’s Bar and Grill in downtown Caledonia, she is hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner with help from the Food Shelf, and a local food bank. Local donors, along with food wholesalers Rud knows, have been contributing towards the event. Rud and members of her family will be on hand to help out, along with Food Shelf members and other local volunteers.
“People from the community come in and donate their time that day and it’s just a lot of fun,” Rud said. “We’re hoping to serve 150 people on Thanksgiving. We’ll be serving from 11 until 2. People can also call for carry-outs.” Rud stressed the social aspect of the dinner. “We don’t want to see anybody by themselves on Thanksgiving.”
Rud is no stranger to her downtown Caledonia location. For the past 13 years she has worked “off and on” for her aunt and uncle (Sonny and Bev), cooking, waitressing, and bartending when needed. Eventually, she bought the business.
Rud is also planning a free Christmas dinner at her establishment. She plans to sponsor that gathering herself, relying on donations from the community to help support her efforts.
“At Christmas a lot of people donate before the holiday so then we have extra money to buy gift cards for use at Caledonia merchants. We give (these) out to some of the people who are having a hard time.” Rud smiled, “At Christmas we get a lot of local people that are just older residents and their kids aren’t coming home for the holiday. They just come and enjoy the day here and help serve food or just sit and visit with people.
In New Albin, Iowa, another group of volunteers are making sure that everyone can have a Thanksgiving dinner. The Way Station, a faith-based non profit organization will be hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner at the New Albin Community Center. Serving times will be 11 until 1.
Alan Meiners, board president of the Way Station, talked about the group.
“The Way Station is supported by local churches, all of which are involved. Local businesses and individuals also support it. It’s been operating since January of 2002” Meiners said the group runs a thrift store staffed by volunteers, and that income from this also helps their community outreach efforts. The Way Station also includes a youth center and a free movie theatre. All of the staff at the Way Station are volunteers.
Meiners explained that the free Thanksgiving Dinner helped get the Way Station started. “The Thanksgiving Dinner started a couple years before the Way Station got going. It got people together and then the idea of the Way Station came about to reach out a little further. It’s open not only to those who are needy (both the dinner and the Way Station), but to anyone.”
Pastor Jim Olsen of Christ Community Church explained, “We do the meal. Just as Jesus fed 5,000 that were in need of a meal, that’s what we should do, because there’s people in the community that need a meal, and we’re hoping to show the love of Jesus. It’s not a thing where we stand up and preach or anything. We just hope that we show them the love of God, the love of Jesus through action.”
Over two dozen volunteers will be involved with preparations for, and the serving of the Thanksgiving dinner in New Albin. Between 100 and 200 meals are expected to be served.
Speaking of the volunteers, Meiners added, “They just come- very willing, and they work hard.”
Pastor Olson added “They don’t get compensated or anything. There’s no way the town could host something like this without their help.”
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