Hundreds gather to celebrate Thanksgiving at community dinner

Volunteers were prepared for guests from Havre and elsewhere when people began trickling into St, Jude Parish Center for a serving of both a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and companionship.

The dinner is a Havre tradition that reaches back to the 1970s, said Debi Rhines, who has been the organizer of the community dinner for the last five years.

She said that each year a minimum of 100 volunteers take part in serving turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy, dinner rolls, vegetables and pumpkin pie.

Other volunteers wash dishes, replenish food, serve coffee and slices of pie, and clean up afterward.

The dinner is attended by a broad cross section of people of all ages and economic backgrounds. Some are alone, other diners are couples and sometimes entire families.

"I know there are some people who use the soup kitchen every day, and then there are people who just want to come be with other people," Rhines said.

Last year 350 people turned out at the dinner, and, she said, they expected about another 300 this year.

Just fewer than 400 dinners were also prepared and delivered to homes.

Peter Bruni, a retired executive chef, has volunteered as the head chef for the dinner for eight years.

"It gives me a sense of being in the community, and it's a good feeling," Bruni said.

He said that typically he starts getting the food ready between noon and 2 p.m. the day before to prepare the dressings.

The turkeys, which were cooked by Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods, are carved and then wrapped.

Bruni said he then comes in at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day to put the turkey in the oven and begin preparing all the other food items.

He also has kitchen help who have assisted him every year at the dinner and who know his recipes, he is preoccupied by something else

Not all volunteers have helped out or even attended the dinner before.

This year marks the first time Jim Tyler and his wife, Stella, have come.

Tyler said they moved to Havre two years ago from Washington to be closer to their grandchildren, who are spending Thanksgiving this year in Arizona.

"So we decided we would come down here and do this just to be with people," he said.

However, the dinner is not restricted to those who live in the Havre community.

For the second year in a row, Scott and Martha Warren made the 80mile trek from their home in Turner to help out with the dinner.

Martha Warren said they always heard about the dinner advertised on the radio and last year came down to dine and volunteer.

"We wanted to help do what we can do," Martha Warren said.

In the back of the Parish Center, Seleena Davis was playing the piano.

She used to be a member of St, Jude Thaddeus Church but now lives in Malta, though she returns to Havre to visit family and friends.

Davis said the dinner has great meaning to her.

"To me, it means gathering around the people you know and love, and taking care of other people other than yourself," Davis said.