Community Thanksgiving Dinner canceled for the first time

The Havre Community Thanksgiving Dinner has been canceled for the the first time in its nearly 40-year history due to the recent surge of COVID-19 in area.

Dinner Chair Debi Rhines said the decision to cancel the dinner, held at the St. Jude Parish Center every year, was an extremely difficult one given the event’s mission to bring the community together, but for the sake of everyone’s safety she believes this is the right thing to do.

“We’ve done it in snow, we’ve done it in freezing rain, we’ve had the dinner when it was 60 degrees outside. ... It’s always been on,” she said. “But this year, with the surge of positive case in the community and the unknown asymptomatic people, the burden of getting people sick is just too great.”

The dinner, which was begun and paid for by an anonymous donor in 1981 and averages 150 volunteers a year, is free of charge and was intended to bring people in the community together regardless of means or circumstances.

“I don’t know when it gained momentum, but it became an annual event, and here we are, almost 40 years later,” Rhines said.

She said that when she started as chair of the event she was given a mission statement that said the point of the project was to provide a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for everyone, young, old, rich, poor, singles, couples, and families, and to bring the community together.

Rhines said it is a beautiful event that she looks forward to every year.

“For me it doesn’t feel like work, it’s enjoyable because there are always so many people who have a can-do, will-do kind of attitude,” she said. “To me, it’s a great community event.”

She said she and the event’s other organizers have been considering the possibility of cancelation for more than a month and were originally considering running the event by delivery, but since the surge of positive cases in the county the event has become untenable.

Rhines said she’s received many messages saying they would stand by her decision, but it was still an extremely difficult choice to make.

She said there’s a statement she’s seen on social media that she thinks is very powerful and sums up her feelings about the situation.

“We’re all separated so that when we come back no one is missing,” she said.

Unfortunately, there are those in the community for whom that is no longer possible, she said, but the point the statement makes is still true.

In a letter sent to the Havre Daily News Friday, Rhines and the anonymous donor said, “We hope and pray you will be at our table next year to share fellowship and the same full-course traditional holiday meal that has attracted many people from all walks of life for decades. Until next year, keep your circles small, stay home when needed, practice social distancing, wash your hands often, wear your masks, and always love your neighbors. God willing, we will all be available next year to carry out the mission of the Community Thanksgiving Dinner as we collectively love giving back to our community.”