For the past 10 years, Beaufort resident Shelia McCarthan has spent her Thanksgiving eating two of her favorite foods -- mashed potatoes and stuffing -- at The Parish Church of St. Helena (Episcopal).
McCarthan said she saves the name tags distributed at the annual dinners and sticks them to a door at her home as a reminder of the good food and kindness shown by the community volunteers who serve the free meal.
"They all treat me real nice," she said. "I'm always going to come, even if I can't get anyone to come with me."
The Parish Church of St. Helena held its 30th annual Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, serving turkey and all the trimmings to anyone who wanted a free holiday meal.
Across the Broad River, hundreds of volunteers served hungry residents on Hilton Head Island, where St. Andrew By-the-Sea United Methodist Church and Hudson's seafood restaurant hosted their 11th annual Thanksgiving dinner.
The family-style dinner has grown every year since about 500 free meals were served in 1999, said Gloria LaCoe, one of the meal's organizers. In this year's economy, the church expected to serve up to 2,000 people between about 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
"We've had people lined up since 9 o'clock waiting to eat," LaCoe said. "That's never happened before."
Both dinners are open to anyone who stops by, and the churches serve people with a variety of reasons for coming. Some diners are lonely locals who have no family in town; some live on boats at a marina; some are tourists; others cannot afford to cook for themselves.
"It reminds me of the first Thanksgiving," said Laurie Jones, who coordinates volunteers for the dinner at Hudson's. "People from all walks of life are sitting next to each other, passing the food around."
Joyce Compton said she and her husband volunteer as hosts because of the diversity of the crowd. The Pittsboro, Ind., residents vacation at their timeshare on Hilton Head each year during Thanksgiving. They've been volunteering since they attended the meal at Hudson's six years ago.
"We enjoyed it so much that we started hosting," she said. "We've met so many different people."
Bob Beck attended the dinner at The Parish Church of St. Helena for the first time this year. The native of Washington state had been traveling with his wife in their boat, Baloo, when she was called home for the holiday.
He learned of the dinner while touring Beaufort earlier this week and decided to attend for some company on Thanksgiving.
"I'm just kind of a loner out here," he said. "I like to spend part of Thanksgiving with other people."
After finishing his meal -- including what he called the epitome of sweet potatoes -- Beck volunteered to bus tables.
At the Hudson's dinner, donations are collected for the non-profit Deep Well Project. Allan LaCoe, one of the dinner's organizers, said he expected to raise $8,000 for Deep Well on Thursday.
"This is a community dinner," he said. "This represents what Hilton Head is all about. We're a community that's giving back, and we're a community that takes care of our guests."
Any food left over from either dinner will be donated to local charities. Between both meals, volunteers prepared more than 140 turkeys.
rss
mobile
