Thanksgiving came a week early last night.

Yesterday, members of Syracuse University’s chapter of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club along with the Bishop Foery Foundation sponsored the free 14th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Southwest Community Center on South Avenue in Syracuse.

The Rev. John Schopfer, volunteer and local minister, stood in the community center’s gym among a crowd that dined at colorful tables. A long row of volunteers, most of them SU students, served plates of steaming turkey, rice, stuffing and cranberry sauce to members of the local community.

‘This isn’t a soup line,’ Schopfer said. ‘It’s just people having dinner together.’

He was one of more than 100 volunteers who helped set up, cook and serve the annual Thanksgiving feast. Larry King, president of the Bishop Foery Foundation, explained that the evening would not have been possible without the volunteers.

‘When you look at the impact they have here …’ he said, his sentence trailing off as he surveyed the tables full of families savoring their meal.

‘I know I appreciate it,’ he added. ‘And I know the families coming here appreciate it.’

This year’s students from La L.U.C.H.A., National Society of Black Engineers, sororities, fraternities and various other SU groups volunteered for the dinner.

Michael Martinez, a senior biochemistry major, volunteered for the second year in a row. He saw a flier for the dinner last year and signed up to help. Martinez grew up in community similar to that of south Syracuse, and he said he would have liked to have seen a program like the Thanksgiving dinner in his own neighborhood.

‘It brings so many people together,’ he said.

Unity was also the aim of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club, a female student group working to reach professional goals and participate in community service. Robin Dean, the community service chairperson of the association, said the Thanksgiving dinner is the group’s biggest event of the year and requires a lot of planning.

Both the association and the Bishop Foery Foundation worked to raise money for the event throughout the year. The association held a spa day, and Bishop Foery held a golf tournament in order to raise funds. Wegmans and Nationwide Insurance also sponsored the event, King said.

When King started working at the dinner in the late 1980s, he and others cooked two turkeys and invited about five families to eat in the community center’s lounge. Now the dinner is held in the gym and serves 300 to 400 people. This year, King is overseeing the serving of more than 20 turkeys donated by Wegmans.

At the back of the gym, a table full of children and one woman sat finishing their meals and laughing. One of them, a young boy named Marvin, helped himself to a second plate of food.

‘I like the stuffing best,’ he said.

Marvin is a resident of Boot House, a nearby temporary shelter for children who have been removed from their homes. For him and the other Boot House residents, the trip to the free Thanksgiving dinner is an opportunity to mix food with fun. For Boot House worker Cindy Hatcher, the dinner is a relief. Most nights, she cooks dinner for roughly a dozen children.

‘We come here every year,’ she said. ‘This is a great thing.’

In the middle of the gym, Schopfer smiled as a young woman approached him, trailed by three young girls.

‘(The young woman) Nancy has been coming here since she was that high,’ he said, pointing to the smallest girl.

Nancy Vandeliner grew up in the neighborhood and said she remembers coming to the dinner every year since she was a little girl. Now she brings her daughters to the feast.

‘The food was really good,’ one of the girls said.

‘Everybody has enough to eat,’ Schopfer said. ‘Nobody goes away hungry, and everyone is invited. Isn’t that wonderful?’

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Thanksgiving came a week early last night.

Yesterday, members of Syracuse University’s chapter of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club along with the Bishop Foery Foundation sponsored the free 14th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Southwest Community Center on South Avenue in Syracuse.

The Rev. John Schopfer, volunteer and local minister, stood in the community center’s gym among a crowd that dined at colorful tables. A long row of volunteers, most of them SU students, served plates of steaming turkey, rice, stuffing and cranberry sauce to members of the local community.

‘This isn’t a soup line,’ Schopfer said. ‘It’s just people having dinner together.’

He was one of more than 100 volunteers who helped set up, cook and serve the annual Thanksgiving feast. Larry King, president of the Bishop Foery Foundation, explained that the evening would not have been possible without the volunteers.

‘When you look at the impact they have here …’ he said, his sentence trailing off as he surveyed the tables full of families savoring their meal.

‘I know I appreciate it,’ he added. ‘And I know the families coming here appreciate it.’

This year’s students from La L.U.C.H.A., National Society of Black Engineers, sororities, fraternities and various other SU groups volunteered for the dinner.

Michael Martinez, a senior biochemistry major, volunteered for the second year in a row. He saw a flier for the dinner last year and signed up to help. Martinez grew up in community similar to that of south Syracuse, and he said he would have liked to have seen a program like the Thanksgiving dinner in his own neighborhood.

‘It brings so many people together,’ he said.

Unity was also the aim of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club, a female student group working to reach professional goals and participate in community service. Robin Dean, the community service chairperson of the association, said the Thanksgiving dinner is the group’s biggest event of the year and requires a lot of planning.

Both the association and the Bishop Foery Foundation worked to raise money for the event throughout the year. The association held a spa day, and Bishop Foery held a golf tournament in order to raise funds. Wegmans and Nationwide Insurance also sponsored the event, King said.

When King started working at the dinner in the late 1980s, he and others cooked two turkeys and invited about five families to eat in the community center’s lounge. Now the dinner is held in the gym and serves 300 to 400 people. This year, King is overseeing the serving of more than 20 turkeys donated by Wegmans.

At the back of the gym, a table full of children and one woman sat finishing their meals and laughing. One of them, a young boy named Marvin, helped himself to a second plate of food.

‘I like the stuffing best,’ he said.

Marvin is a resident of Boot House, a nearby temporary shelter for children who have been removed from their homes. For him and the other Boot House residents, the trip to the free Thanksgiving dinner is an opportunity to mix food with fun. For Boot House worker Cindy Hatcher, the dinner is a relief. Most nights, she cooks dinner for roughly a dozen children.

‘We come here every year,’ she said. ‘This is a great thing.’

In the middle of the gym, Schopfer smiled as a young woman approached him, trailed by three young girls.

‘(The young woman) Nancy has been coming here since she was that high,’ he said, pointing to the smallest girl.

Nancy Vandeliner grew up in the neighborhood and said she remembers coming to the dinner every year since she was a little girl. Now she brings her daughters to the feast.

‘The food was really good,’ one of the girls said.

‘Everybody has enough to eat,’ Schopfer said. ‘Nobody goes away hungry, and everyone is invited. Isn’t that wonderful?’

Published on November 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm