For Chief Program Officer Leslye Wooley, November means one thing: Thanksgiving. That’s because preparing for Thanksgiving Day at Food & Friends is a massive, months-long effort involving staff, volunteers, and hundreds of turkeys.
“The chefs are roasting 844 turkeys,” Wooley explained. “They are preparing all the sides, but then volunteers are coming in and portioning and packing throughout the month.”
Planning and preparation begin early. “The Executive Chef and I start talking turkeys in July. By the first week of November, all of the Thanksgiving ingredients arrive for food prep to begin,” Wooley said. “Volunteers start portioning and packing all the sides, and then they go in the freezer.” The only Sunday the kitchen is open all year is “Turkey Sunday,” when a small group of dedicated volunteers prep hundreds of turkeys for roasting.
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Day, Food & Friends’ team of chefs, delivery drivers, and volunteers continue to prepare roughly 7,100 regular medically tailored meals a day and deliver them to clients living with serious illnesses — an impressive balancing act of logistics and care.
On Thanksgiving morning, volunteers arrive as early as 4:30 a.m. to help in the kitchen, while others soon begin deliveries across the region. “People want to share their day with us and, most importantly, with our clients,” Wooley said. “It’s pretty amazing and heartwarming, especially in a time when things are difficult.”
Reflecting on what she’s most thankful for, she added, “I’m always thankful for the number of volunteers that come at 4:30 in the morning…or the volunteers that are arriving at 8 a.m. to pick up Thanksgiving meals that they’re going to then drive out throughout the entire area…The fact that people want to share their day with us and our clients is pretty amazing and heartwarming.”
For clients, the impact goes far beyond the meal itself. “When we’re able to provide a full Thanksgiving meal that can feed up to five people, that’s that person’s chance to invite people over and share their Thanksgiving,” Wooley said. “It’s their chance to do something good for the people who have been helping to care for them.”
This Thanksgiving, Food & Friends will provide meals for nearly 1,000 families across the Washington region. Learn more about our Thanksgiving program and how you can get involved at foodandfriends.org/engage/thanksgiving.