Thanksgiving Dinner looking for a few more volunteers

Preparations for the Havre Community Thanksgiving Dinner are well underway and while the event is having good luck in terms of volunteers, organizers say it could use a handful more.

The dinner, a long running Havre tradition, is set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish Center and will include a meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, buns, corn, pumpkin pie and all the associated relish options.

The free dinner, funded completely by an anonymous donor, has been held in town for decades, with its only cancellation in its history due to COVID-19 in 2020, and at its recent peak served over 800 meals.

Dinner Chair Debbie Rhines said they have a healthy pool of volunteers so far, but could use a handful more, especially for meal preparation the night before.

Rhines said a few of her regular volunteers have had to cancel, and it would be useful to get five to seven more people to fill the gap.

She said anyone interested can call her at 406-945-2833 or show up Wednesday evening at 5 p.m., which is when they will be in the most need.

In 2023, Rhines said, they had a lower turnout than usual for the meals the last few years, but they had a huge team of volunteers that made everything go very smoothly, so they are looking to get as much participation as possible and bring as many people together as possible.

“The spirit of the dinner is to bring our community together as one big extended family,” she said.

She said they are planning to create at least 700 meals this year, and that wouldn’t be possible without a lot of people, as well as their partnership with Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods, which makes the turkey, buns and pies, so all they need to do is prepare the food for the next day and assemble the meals for homebound people.

“It’s a fantastic partnership and a wonderful relationship,” she said.

Homebound people who cannot physically go to the dinner but would like a meal delivered can call North Central Montana Senior Citizens Center to make a reservation, at 406-265-5464 by 3 p.m. Wednesday at the latest, Rhines said.

Any food leftover will go to Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen.