Carrie Razor, who lives alone, was thankful she did not spend Thanksgiving alone.

Razor was among more than 100 people who ate their Thanksgiving meal at Washington’s First Baptist Church on Thursday. For the second year in a row, the church provided its Community Thanksgiving Dinner to anyone who wanted to attend.

“My church gave me a paper (flier),” Razor responded when asked how she learned about the free Thanksgiving dinner.

“I live alone. It means a lot to me to be with people during the day. I live by myself, so this lets me share Thanksgiving with others,” Razor said about her decision to take part in the Thanksgiving meal

Razor and others dined on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, string beans, rolls and a variety of desserts. Several diners, most of them elderly and some who live alone, said they appreciated the meal because it meant they did not have to cook.

 

 

“It takes a lot of good volunteers. That’s what we got — a lot of nice volunteers,” said Robert Belcher, a First Baptist Church member and an organizer of the dinner. “We had a lot of nice contributions — turkeys — from the congregation, and a lot nice contributions of cash money to buy everything that goes along with it. Everything here is just a volunteer effort. Since we got so many contributions, there’s no charge for the meal. Everyone gets to eat free.”

Samuel “Curly” Smith explained why he helped with the event this year and last year.

“I’m here today (Thanksgiving Day) to serve my church family, the friends and neighbors of this church and the poor and homeless people who might come through that door today,” Smith said. “This is our second year, but we’re hoping it will be an annual thing from here on.”

Smith said about 50 people cooked and prepared the turkeys, not to mention the side dishes and desserts.

“It takes a great effort to put it on,” Smith said.

Not many people showed up for last year’s inaugural Community Thanksgiving Dinner, Smith said, which was somewhat disappointing. This year, First Baptist Church got its neighboring churches in the community to help spread the word about this year’s dinner, Smith added.

In addition to feeding people at the church, about 50 meals were delivered to people who could not make it to the church. Some church members transported some people from their homes to the church so they could join in the sharing of the Thanksgiving meal at the church.

“I’m here today because I think it’s one of the greatest things First Baptist has done recently. I can’t think of anyplace I would rather be than trying to help somebody who doesn’t have anywhere else to go, doesn’t have family to be with. They can come be with the church family,” volunteer Murray Whitford said.

Asked if he would like for the event to become a church tradition, Whitford said, “Absolutely. I think this is one of the best things we do, and we should try to do this every year. You’d be surprised at how many people are by themselves, alone and don’t have any family to spend Thanksgiving with.”