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PrintJ.J. Blankenship is a regular at the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen in Columbia.
“It’s my home away from home,” Blankenship said.
For today, however, home has moved a few blocks over.
The St. Francis House, a hospice that sits near the Loaves and Fishes kitchen in northern Columbia, will be hosting the biggest dinner in town this afternoon. Organizers expect hundreds of the area’s less fortunate to attend for traditional Thanksgiving food and to watch movies.
“Everybody can just come up there and relax,” said Mikel Wyant, assistant director of the Loaves and Fishes kitchen.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are traditionally the busiest days of the year at the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen. Wyant said they hold Thanksgiving dinner at the St. Francis House every year because the Loaves and Fishes kitchen is not large enough to hold the crowd.
“It’ll be busy. Especially this year with the weather being so nice,” Wyant said.
Because of the unseasonably warm weather recently, many people are still camping out in the area. In the past they might have already found somewhere else to stay, Wyant said.
The dinner is being paid for with money the St. Francis House has set aside for the event. Lana Jacobs, who runs the hospice, has been out of town and unavailable for comment.
Among the organizers is Almeta Crayton, the city council representative for Ward 1, where the St. Francis House is located. Crayton is passing out turkeys in her ward today.
The Central Missouri Food Bank received about 700 pounds of turkey last Friday, according to Heather Duren, director of development. The turkeys were available to the food bank’s 142 member agencies on a first-come, first-served basis.
Several other soup kitchens are closed Thanksgiving, though many have directed people to the St. Francis House. The Russell Chapel Community Food Pantry in Columbia provides food to needy families on a weekly basis. Coordinator Edith Prince said families received extra food this week for the holiday.
“We’re trying to get families enough food to make it through Thanksgiving,” Prince said.
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