Before the sit-down guests had even started arriving, the volunteers for the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner had already sent out enough meals to feed a medium-sized high school.
Myron Johnson, president of the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, said volunteers delivered 1,753 meals Thursday morning. They also prepared enough food for about 1,200 meals served at the Kansas Expocentre's Agriculture Hall, he said.
Most of the people who had a meal delivered are elderly or have a disability that makes it difficult for them to go out for a meal, Johnson said.
Volunteers started packing the meals at about 9:40 a.m., with a goal of finishing at 11:30 a.m., though it took a little longer than they had hoped, Johnson said. After that, they shifted to serving the dine-in meals when the public started arriving about noon, he said.
About 400 people, including 100 drivers, volunteered to help with the dinner, Johnson said. They didn't need as many volunteers as in previous years because they use turkey breasts, so deboning isn't required, and no longer make the stuffing from scratch, he said.
The volunteers running the assembly line to stuff styrofoam containers with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes and green beans were working efficiently as they prepared for the last round of distribution Thursday -- so much so that their supervisor ordered them to take a break for a few minutes while the group loading the containers into boxes caught up.
When the order came, they got back to work just as quickly, with the supervisors swooping in from time to time to replace a pan that was running low. Other volunteers then added two slices of bread, bagged to keep them dry, and a separate container of pie for each meal while loading them into boxes to hand off to the drivers.
Cynthia Harris, who has volunteered for about 25 years, said the servers have building meals "down to a science." It helps that so many of the same people come year after year, she said, nodding toward the man she was serving turkey with and the woman scooping stuffing next to him.
"It's like a tradition every year to see the same people," she said.
The volunteers encourage one another, Harris said, and coming together to help means they won't be alone either after children move away or loved ones pass on.
"It's the sense of community coming together," she said.
Tammy McGinnis was waiting for the last 14 meals she needed to deliver at about 11 a.m. Thursday. She said she and her daughter Mallory had delivered 108 meals to Polk Plaza earlier in the morning. The meals, packed 12 to a box, filled the back of a pickup truck, she said.
"It's just nice to see the people's faces when you drop it off," she said. "It makes you appreciate what you have and that you can do it."