The volunteers who provide big holiday meals for Hopkinsville’s Breaking Bread Community Dinner Church have some experience adjusting to change amid growing demand for the food they serve. That’s been the big lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They’ll need all their skills for this year’s Thanksgiving Day feed — plus help from home cooks who are willing to pitch in with side dishes and desserts.
Dinner Church founder Donna Williams said Tuesday that she expects to provide 450 to-go meals on Thanksgiving Day. That’s about 50 more than they aimed for at Thanksgiving last year.
And with a huge wrinkle for 2022, they will have to provide an alternative to turkey.
“We will be doing chicken dinners this year instead of turkey,” Williams said.
There’s a shortage of whole turkeys because of an avian flu outbreak that killed an estimated 6 million turkeys. That’s roughly 14% of the U.S. turkey production heading into the holidays, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a result of the shortage and inflated food prices, the cost for a whole bird has increased about 28% since Thanksgiving 2021.
Williams and her helpers have ordered more than 700 pieces of fried chicken from two grocers. They’ll pick up the meat Thanksgiving morning.
Williams is asking churches and individuals to help round out the meals by providing vegetable casseroles and desserts (preferably cupcakes or brownies because those are easier to pack into to-go containers).
“And we always need bottled water,” she said.
Desserts and other items that don’t need to be served warm can be dropped off at Saint John United Methodist Church, 2808 S. Virginia St., after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving.
Heated dishes should be delivered to Aaron McNeil Center, 604 E. Second St., after 11 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. Williams plans to start handing out boxed meals at 1:30 p.m.
The Dinner Church was established in late 2019 and served its first meal on Christmas Day that year. Since then, Williams and a rotating crew of volunteers have provided a meal every Thursday evening.
Initially, the meals were served in the small community room at Aaron McNeil. But since the pandemic started, all of the meals have been served in to-go boxes. People start lining up on the sidewalk around 4:15 p.m. for meals that are promised at 5 p.m. Even if health restrictions didn’t require to-go meals, it would be difficult to serve again inside Aaron McNeil because the number of diners has grown so much, said Williams.
The number of people seeking a meal has steadily increased from a few dozen a week in early 2020 to 350 at the most recent meal on Oct. 27.
The program runs on donations of food and money. Monetary donations can be sent to Aaron McNeil or Saint John United Methodist — with “Dinner Church” noted in the memo line.
Anyone planning to provide food for Thanksgiving is asked to email Williams in advance — dwilliams945@gmail — so she will know what to expect.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
