Parish delivers hot holiday meals with help of 150 drivers

CAMASBy Janet Cleaveland

When it comes to feeding people in need, the Knights of Columbus at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish think big for Thanksgiving.

Just ask Al Schmid of Washougal, who has been coordinating the holiday dinners for almost 30 years. This year, the Knights expect to prepare hot turkey dinners for 500 people, with more than 150 drivers delivering them. It's a huge effort for 15 to 20 Knights, their families, parishioners and volunteers from the community. Other help comes from as far away as Portland and Lewis County.

The Knights started the project years ago, and it has grown over the years from (dinners) being cooked at a Washougal senior center, Schmid said.

For the past 15 years or so, the hot meals have been prepared, assembled and sent out from the kitchen at St. Thomas, a parish of 575 households. It's a commitment that starts months earlier with Schmid and others in the Camas community making the rounds to banks and other donors. Nonprofits and local churches help Schmid compile addresses and the number of meals that each household needs.

Father Matthew Oakland, priest administrator of St. Thomas since 2011, is looking forward to his third Thanksgiving at the parish. Last year, he set aside a couple of meals so he could make deliveries, too.

The individuals and families are so gracious and appreciative, Father Oakland wrote in an email. It allows them to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which is such a part of our nation's history, and ties in well with our Catholic faith, ‘Eucharistia' being Greek for thanksgiving.

The effort is organized with the precision that the Knights typically put into practice. On Wednesday morning of Thanksgiving week, they storm the kitchen, break out the barbecues and roast about 40 turkeys. Then on Thursday morning, the cooks reheat the turkey and prepare the potatoes, stuffing, gravy, salad, green beans and rolls. Parishioners donate the pies.

Father Oakland seems to relish working alongside the volunteers, Schmid said: He gets in there with his shirtsleeves rolled up; he really enjoys it.

By 11:30 a.m., volunteer drivers arrive, each ready to deliver two or three meals.

Our drivers show up by the grace of God, Schmid said. So far, we've always had enough.

November 22, 2013