Volunteers carry on community tradition

For most people the traditional Thanksgiving dinner is going to grandma's house for a family get together.

In Saratoga, a handful of people volunteered their time to uphold a 19-year tradition – Thanksgiving dinner at St. Ann's Parish Hall.

More than 130 people attended the Thanksgiving Dinner Thursday and another 40 meals were sent out to people eating at home.

"I don't know any other way to spend Thanksgiving," volunteer Don Herold said. He and his wife are members of the Platte Valley Helping Hands.

Merlynn and Ron Hoopes were volunteering at St. Ann's too. Their grown children showed up early and helped with getting the meals ready to be delivered.

Ron and his son, Wells, did the heavy lifting as they set up the roaster full of ham.

Annie, Wells' wife helped fill the meals for delivery.

Marilyn Verplancke went over the list of people who requested deliveries as Joni Johnson finished filling a plate with fresh vegetables.

Earlier that morning, Doug and Kathleen Campbell delivered the turkeys they roasted in the Hotel Wolf kitchen.

Tim Lamprecht, owner of Valley Foods, has donated the turkeys for the dinner for the last two years.

Steve Kerpan and Scott Kerbs carved up the turkeys. Usually, Chris Shannon helps Kerpan, but Shannon had the flu and had to stay home.

"I called Scott and asked if he could help," Cindy Bloomquist said. "Chris really hated missing this."

Some of the volunteers showed up as early as 6:30 a.m., to make sure the food would be ready for the 12:30 p.m. dinner.

For those who attend the dinner, it is a tradition too. Many of them have family out of town and would otherwise spend Thanksgiving alone. Instead, they are enjoying the company of a large group "of their closest friends", as Dawna Erickson said.

Entire families came to take part in the 19-year tradition and were greeted by smiling faces and home-cooked food.