For the 34th annual Turkey Buffet at the DECC the kitchen made 7,500 meals total. 1,500 meals were delivered, 1,000 were take home lunches, and close to 5,000 meals were served at the DECC.

The buffet is an annual tradition that gives free meals to those in the community to make sure everyone has a chance to have a warm Thanksgiving meal.

The event takes a lot of volunteers to help it run smoothly. Karen Gallagher is a long time volunteer who moves her entire Thanksgiving plans to help serve.

“It’s a great way to spend the holiday. we do our thanksgiving tomorrow and we are here today,” she says.

Monica Hendrickson is the organizer and says it’s special to see the community bond over their meals. Typically the people that come either don’t have a home, no one to spend Thanksgiving with, or don’t have the means to cook a whole Thanksgiving meal together.

“One of the things that we are hearing about this year is that everything costs so much more. We have some really big families that are coming in that just couldn’t afford to make the meal.”

To make the big buffet about 260 turkeys were cooked, 14,000 ounces of gravy was made, and 2,000 pounds of potatoes were mashed all to make a great meal.