BRATTLEBORO — “When people say 'it takes a village,' it takes a community to come together and give thanks,” said donation coordinator Anna LaPorte.
The committee behind the 45th annual Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving seeks volunteers to help with the meal. Brattleboro's annual community meal is free. There is no need to signup prior to the event.
The Community Thanksgiving is Nov. 22, from noon until 5 p.m. The dinner is served at St. Michael's School on Walnut Street.
Just as everyone is welcome at the Nov. 22 meal, everyone willing to prepare food, deliver meals to people's homes, or clean is welcome as a volunteer.
This year is donation coordinator LaPorte's first. This year will also be LaPorte's first year to attend the dinner itself. Last year, an illness kept her home while other family members attended the Thanksgiving meal.
LaPorte jokes about how she joined the committee. She came to it by way of “voluntelling.”
According to LaPorte, she and her family have a military background. Volunteering is one way LaPorte likes to serve the communities where she was stationed. As a result, she spent many years telling her two children that they would volunteer for events.
This year, her daughter, Cassandra Viado, informed her mother that she was being “voluntold” to work on the Community Thanksgiving.
“So when I had the opportunity to join the committee this year - even though I was voluntold - I was very excited,” LaPorte said.
Long-time volunteer and committee member Ray Branagan remembers when the dinner started at the former Common Ground restaurant. The meal has also taken place at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden.
“We know the people are coming [to eat] so we have to be prepared,” he said.
He jokes that this year the committee offers volunteers a sign-on bonus.
“It's an extra piece of pie,” Branagan said.
For the past couple years, the organizing committee has sought to recruit new members. Branagan hopes that those who have enjoyed the meal in the past will step up to ensure the dinner's future.
Roughly 170 people volunteered last year, according to LaPorte.
Volunteers prepare food at the Masonic Hall. The masons donate use of the hall's industrial kitchen, said LaPorte.
Last year volunteers served approximately 600 people. The committee also delivered 150 meals to seniors and people with limited mobility.
“We need volunteers across the gamut,” she said.
The committee seeks people to help prepare food over the two days prior to the meal. They also seek people to help on the 22nd with cooking, set up, serving, delivering, and clean up.
This year the committee is opening volunteering to middle and high school aged students. If under the age of 14, the committee wants the student's parents to participate as well.
“Anyone who signs up to volunteer who is a BUHS or BAMS student and needs volunteer hours, we will 100 percent fill your form out for you,” LaPorte said.
What the committee needs the most help with is preparing food. That happens mostly on the 20th and 21st. In the past two chefs directed the kitchen and helpers. This year, the committee only has one chef, Ian Bigelow.
He will need all the support he can get, LaPorte said.
Clean up after the meal is another area that needs volunteers from 5- 7 p.m. Some of the utensils and other materials are from a rental company. St. Michael's donates items such as the tables and gym space.
Ensuring that the meal is completely cleaned up and the gym tidied is one way the committee says 'thank you' to St. Michael's and the rental companies.
The dinner is a “traditional Thanksgiving” menu of turkey, ham, sides, and dessert.
LaPorte said the committee wants to become as gluten and allergen free as possible. For future years, the committee hopes to add more vegan and allergen-free items. All items served have ingredient labels, she said.
LaPorte estimates that approximately 98 percent of what the volunteers serve is donated by local businesses.
The committee has arranged for local musicians to perform during the dinner, she said.
“You get a bunch of different styles of music while you're eating so it also solidifies that community feel” as if people were at home, she said.