The less fortunate enjoy a free Thanksgiving meal
Betsy Avelar Staff Writer
Gilroy – While many families enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends, Efrian Cornelas – dining on a meal at the Lord’s Table – longed to see his 11-year-old daughter Celeste.
Cornelas, 50, along with many other homeless and less fortunate of the community gathered in the school gym for the 25th annual Thanksgiving dinner of mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, beets, yams, salad and apple pie.
Though Cornelas has lived in Gilroy for more than 11 years, his legal problems often prevent him from seeing his daughter.
The Lord’s Table serves an average of 90 hot meals to mostly homeless individuals and extremely low-income families three times a week. The nutritionally balanced meals are prepared on site and are served on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Traditional holiday meals are also offered to those that are living in the street and do not have anywhere to go on these special days.
Event coordinator Joe Hunkin, 50, awoke at 4am to cook turkey and mashed potatoes. Though he has coordinated other Lord’s Table meals, the Thanksgiving meal is larger with more people in attendance and more volunteers to coordinate. Dozens of individuals and families cycled in and out of the event within four hours.
“I don’t mind being here helping those who are less fortunate,” said Hunkin, who has six children and planned to spend the afternoon with family. “I may be in their shoes one of these days or my kids.”
Volunteer Erika Harrison, 42, didn’t know she would be helping out at the Lord’s Table until a day before the event.
“It was my husbands idea, but I’m really loving it,” the Morgan Hill resident said. “I realize that we need to do it more. We get so caught up with our families and friends that we forget about helping others.”
The idea of helping others on Thanksgiving day was born more than two decades ago when five men, Val Filice, 80, and Joe Peralta, 89, amongst others, decided to plan a Lord’s Table event for the less fortunate of the community.
“Other people were doing the same thing so we figured why don’t we do something,” said Peralta, one of the chefs and originators of the event.
He along with Filice were up early preparing the food.
“They always needed someone to cook and we got hooked,” said Filice, also known as the Godfather of gourmet alley for the Garlic Festival. He is the man who created the recipes and food operation that earned Gilroy international fame, and he shared his talents with the less fortunate at the Lord’s Table for the 25th time.
With the help of volunteers, people such as Cornelas were able to enjoy a meal he would not otherwise have afforded, and though he ate in an area filled with people he did not know, he was grateful for the hot meal that was served.
“This is good,” he said smiling. “Everyone is giving a grain of sand.”
