TurkeyFest Check Presentation

The Heartland Pioneers continued their alliance with the Salvation Army and the Thanksgiving dinner they started with them around thirty some years ago.  In the beginning the pioneer volunteers prepared the dinners at their homes and then delivered everything to the Kroc Center on the night before Thanksgiving.  The pioneer cook, Bill Sucha, then prepared the potatoes and green beans while the volunteers sliced up the turkeys and all was ready to go early on Thanksgiving morning.  The first few years 300 meals were prepared and delivered by volunteers the Salvation Army assembled.  Now the Thanksgiving dinners are delivered to 1500 families in the Omaha Metro.  Other volunteers have taken over a lot of preparation of the meal.  The Heartland Pioneers have continued to supply volunteers over the years and this year the Heartland Pioneer Council presented a check for $1000.00 on November 19, 2020 to purchase turkeys for the Thanksgiving dinner.  The Pioneers plan to continue this Thanksgiving Dinner tradition with the Salvation Army.

Submitted by Bob Wolkins and Debbie Grady

Volunteers step up for Salvation Army’s Turkeyfest in Omaha on Thanksgiving

By John Chapman
Published: Nov. 26, 2020 at 2:35 PM CST

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – This is the 29th year for the Salvation Army’s Turkeyfest, the Army delivers hundreds of meals to senior citizens in the metro area.

Because of the pandemic new event safety protocols have been put in place.

The event will look different this year, but one thing will remain the same because not even the virus can stop the spirit of giving and helping others today.

More social distancing, and fewer volunteers in the Kroc Center Kitchen this year.

“You need to help out‚ that’s just what I like to do,” said volunteer for more than 20 years Debbie Grady. “This is my town — I like to take care of it and you know everybody’s your neighbor so we need to take care of each other — especially now. It’s important to help each other out.”

This year Debbie brought her son Dan along to volunteer some of his time to help feed others.

“Giving back makes me feel good and when she asked me if I wanted to help out this year I was like yeah, definitely,” Dan Grady said.

There are hundreds of volunteers who make the Salvation Army’s Turkeyfest go.

Volunteers running an assembly line serving up thanksgiving dinner for close to 1,000 seniors this year.

“We are so very grateful for our volunteers who step up to support this event. Some of them have been doing it for 29 years and then we’re also grateful for those who financially support this effort,” said Major Adam Moore with the Salvation Army.

Outside of the Kroc Center, more volunteers were lining up to pick up meals to drop off around the city.

The pandemic may have changed the way we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, but it did not change the spirit of volunteers determined to help others.

The Salvation Army says it takes about 200 volunteers to feed close to 1,000 senior citizens this year

Carolyn reported that Bob and her delivered 33 baby blankets, 8 cocoons, 11 hats and 17 personal items (hand lotion etc.) to ODM on behalf of Heartland Pioneers Volunteers on the morning of 2 Mar 2021. Carolyn met with Kristin Dineen of Public Relations and she accepted the items in the parking lot of Open Door Mission. She opened up some of the boxes to display the items.

Carolyn and Bob then drove over to the Risen Sun Village to deliver 2 lap robes and 2 shoulder wraps. Kimberly, Administrative Assistant, accepted the items there from Carolyn.

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Submitted by Carolyn Wolkins

The first luncheon for 2021 will be in March, giving most of us enough time to get the COVID vaccine shots before attending.

I’ll try to send a notice when we’re able to restart our projects (since we will be looking for volunteers) and reminders about a week before all of our events.

Elaine A Housley, New Outlook Director, Pioneers

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submitted by Director Elaine Housley