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Scrambling to save Turkey Day

With donations down and things going wrong, the St. Vincent de Paul Society hustles to pull off its annual Thanksgiving feast.

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published November 22, 2006

It's the weekend before Thanksgiving, and just about everything that could go wrong, did.

The refrigerated truck that the St. Vincent de Paul Society volunteers use to pick up food donations had to be taken in for maintenance.

The volunteers who had signed up to make food baskets for low-income families were more than an hour late.

Far more troubling was that donations were down, way down. Last Thanksgiving, about 600 turkeys were donated. This year, they barely had enough birds, salad dressing or yams to give out to the needy families who were expecting them.

So on Saturday morning, Chef Bill Beecher stood in his kitchen nervously waiting and hoping this year's Thanksgiving feast would somehow work out.

Every year, many St. Vincent de Paul Society organizations across the country throw Thanksgiving dinners for the poor and homeless.

But what many forget are the weeks of hard work and stress that go into preparing the meal. Throughout November, volunteers and staff at the centers work long hours daily rounding up donated food and preparing it, while still serving up hot meals every day to their regular customers who come in looking for a meal they wouldn't get otherwise.

In St. Petersburg, the Thanksgiving meal at the St. Vincent de Paul Society food center on 15th Street N will feed 300 guests. The menu includes more than 50 turkeys, 500 servings of homemade stuffing, 14 gallons of gravy, 40 gallons of cranberry sauce, 150 pounds of mashed potatoes and dozens of pumpkin pies covered in whipped cream.

The society also gives out hundreds of boxes of frozen whole turkeys and canned goods to families days before Thanksgiving, so they can prepare their meal at home.

For 10 years, Sophie Sampson, executive director of the south Pinellas branch of the society, has organized the event. But for the first time, Sampson was worried they might have to turn some people away this week.

On Friday, she resorted to buying turkeys, something she says she rarely does.

"The Lord will help us out, you'll see," said Sampson, as she and two volunteers went to a Publix in Seminole to pick up the 80 frozen turkeys. They had called the night before to confirm, but at 9 a.m., the grocery store had only 40. They would have to return later that afternoon.

For weeks, Beecher and his staff tried to do as much as they could before the big day. As the food slowly trickled in, they made the gravy and stuffing, and roasted the birds.

When he heard what had happened at Publix, he shrugged. It would work out. It had to.

"Whenever I desperately need something, somehow, it shows up on my doorstep," he said. "I'm thinking there must be someone looking out for me."

On Saturday, seven girls from the YWCA showed up, sleepy-eyed and nearly two hours late. They chose to volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul even though they could have fulfilled their requirement anywhere, said CeCe Sandy-Blair, the group's supervisor.

After two hours of packing boxes of food for the families to pick up, the girls slumped against a wall.

"They're tired now, look," Sandy-Blair said.

Beecher came into the cramped room, now overflowing with food.

"You saved me hours," he cried. "Thank you so much."

Things were looking up.

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727-893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 22, 2006, 06:43:19]