Thanksgiving Dinner in the City Parks

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Homeless in two City parks.  :)
I wanted to provide it a little early, since on the actual Thanksgiving day many churches & organizations open their doors to feed the Homeless & this way they all will get two great big meals, instead of just one.  :)    We fed 77 people altogether & left behind many happy tummies.  :)   And everyone had a wonderful time.  :)

I am so very, very grateful to each & everyone of you who helped in some way or another !!  :)   It definately takes a village to feed the Homeless.  :)

We had 5 huge turkeys, 2 great big trays of stuffing thanks to our dear Hilde, 2 huge pots of mashed potatoes, plus Hilde's famous gravy, one huge pot each of corn & green beans with bacon.  Also a big container full of tossed salad, a huge bowl of Jello with fruit & lots of Cool Whip, cookies, chocolates, & bottled water.  We also had cranberry sauce, which I forgot about & I realized after I got back home that it was still in my car.  :o   :) 

Thank you Cristina, Rae, & Marianne for roasting the turkeys & thank you Gopal for brining & smoking the other two.  Our cars & my home smelled so wonderful all afternoon & evening from the smoked turkeys.  :)   I kept smelling my hands.  :)   It was so kind of all of you to take on a project that big !!  :) 

Thank you Elizabeth & Alberto for donating two of the turkeys for roasting !!
You are always there when I call for your help.  :)  

Thank you Marianne, Mary Ann, & Sue for helping Hilde & me out in the kitchen, especially at the end when things got a little hectic with loading up, etc.   :)   You are so appreciated !!  

Thank you so much Mary Ann & Marilyn for helping us serve at the parks, we had a lot of food to dish out.  :)  

Thank you Dave & Linda for providing some of the groceries for the meal & for treating the Homeless with all those Hershey Kisses.   :)    And thank you Dave for loading up the cars once more & getting us on our way.   :)   You are our muscle man.  ;)   

Thank you Rae & Sara for baking 200 wonderful cookies for the occasion & making it so easy for me by putting them in 100 little bags.   :)   You even borrowed a friends kitchen to be able to make them all.  :)  The cookies were a big hit.  It seems that many of the Homeless have a great big sweet tooth.  :)  I know the feeling.  ;)

Thank you Marilyn for making that huge bowl of Jello with the fruit cocktail, even though you don't like to cook at all.  That was such a great gift of yourself !!   :)

And thank you each & everyone who donated funds from far & near to make this possible once more !!  :)  Your Generosity & Kindness touched me deeply & I will write more about all that in the Christmas blog entry. 

Once again ................... Kindness is alive in Tucson & in America !!   :)    

You all are so incredible & I am so humbled by each one of you !!   :)