Gilroy
– About 250 people – the most ever -enjoyed a classic holiday
meal served on Thanksgiving by The Lord’s Table in Gilroy.
”
Usually we have a rush right at the beginning, but the rush
lasted all day,
”
said Sue Moon, coordinator of The Lord’s Table.
”
We had a huge line wrapping all the way around the inside of the
gym.
”
Gilroy – About 250 people – the most ever -enjoyed a classic holiday meal served on Thanksgiving by The Lord’s Table in Gilroy.
“Usually we have a rush right at the beginning, but the rush lasted all day,” said Sue Moon, coordinator of The Lord’s Table. “We had a huge line wrapping all the way around the inside of the gym.”
Moon attributed the turnout to publicity, but said that attendance has also been up at the regular meals The Lord’s Table serves three times a week.
“Typically, we serve about 80 or 90 at the beginning of the month, when people have more money, and then about 120 later in the month. But in the last couple of months, we’ve been serving 120 or 130 early in the month.”
Even with the huge turn out, there was more than enough food to go around. Volunteers cooked 27 twenty-pound turkeys, 120 pounds of mashed potatoes and massive amounts of stuffing, green beans and biscuits. There was so much pie that guests were taking home slices of pecan and pumpkin in doggy bags.
“The pies were very important,” Moon said. “They’re always the hardest thing to get, and if it wasn’t for Jenny Derry, we wouldn’t have had enough.”
A columnist for the Dispatch, Derry twice used her column to encourage readers to bake and donate pies for the event.
Overall, about 80 people volunteered their time Wednesday to cook and clean and serve, including Craig Gartman, a Gilroy City Council member.
“It was a lot of fun and rewarding to be there to help those who need a helping hand,” Gartman said. “It makes you feel good. That’s the reason to go out and help.”
Moon said that she takes a lot of pride in the food The Lord’s Table Serves – a typical meal is salmon alfredo – but that it’s the atmosphere that really sets her program apart from other soup kitchens.
“We have a lot of fun and we treat people with a lot of respect,” she said. “I tell volunteers to act as though they’re serving people a meal in their home. People feel very special. A lot of them said it was the best meal they’ve ever had.”
The Lord’s Table is an outreach program of Saint Joseph’s Family Center. Meals are served every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at the St. Mary School gym on First St.
