Habersham County citizens are putting on a free Thanksgiving dinner at Cornelia Community House on Thursday, where anyone who would like a hot meal is welcome to come by and get a meal for themselves and their family members.
The free dinner isn’t put together by an organization, it’s a group of Habersham County citizens who come together to donate their time, skills and resources to make sure everyone in their area has a hot meal for Thanksgiving. Cornelia Fire Cheif Billy Joe Jenkins helps organize the volunteers and raise funds, but it’s a group of more than 20 that run the show along with him on Thanksgiving day.
Cornelia Fire Chief Billy Jenkins, alongside a group of volunteers, is organizing a free Thanksgiving day meal for anyone who would like one.This is Jenkins’ fourth time organizing the event.
“I would like for this event to be a really uplifting [event] for people in the community,” Jenkins says. “Whether they don’t have means of getting to have a decent meal, or whether they have a decent meal and they still want to be part of something bigger, my wish is for folks to be able to know that we just want to give food away, and show them that we care.”
Not only will they serve everyone that comes by for a free meal, they plan to cook dinner for 150 women at the Lee Arrendale Transitional Center and deliver to people in White County who would like a Thanksgiving meal.
The event costs about $1,200 to $1,500 to put on, but community members and businesses help offset those costs and help the organizers get everything they need to put the event on.
Wolf Creek Barbeque has offered to smoke all 35 turkeys for the event, which Walmart put aside to make sure the organizers would have enough turkeys to feed everyone who came by for a meal. A community member offered to make tea for the meals at the restaurant she works at. Local chicken distributor Fieldale made a donation to make sure meals would include desserts. Some community members are even cooking for the 500 meals they plan to serve.
“I’ve always had a saying, ‘we don’t look down on anyone, we help them up,’ and that has really been stuck on my heart, not to put anyone down,” Jenkins says. “We have a population of homeless [people] here. […] They are still human, they still mean a lot to us, we just want to be able to reach out and serve them.”
If you would like to reserve a plate ahead of time, would like one delivered to you or have any questions, call or text Cheif Jenkins at (706) 499-0120.
