Reeds Spring Thanksgiving Day feast changes course
November 19, 2020
Cindy Hembree
The annual Reeds Spring Thanksgiving Day dinner is making some changes this year. The community feast, in the past, has taken place inside the lunchroom at the Reeds Spring Intermediate School. However, due to the 2020 pandemic, the order of operation will not be the same.
Shirley West, of Reeds Spring started the tradition eleven years ago. In 2007, she lost her husband, Dale. The following year, as she and her four children sat around the table on Thanksgiving Day, they found the holiday had taken a different tone. The couple’s daughter, Crystal Porter, mentioned the holiday did not seem right without their father being there. They began discussions of how they could turn their grief around. It was in 2009, the entire family made plans to utilize their culinary talents and turn their personal loss into a positive gain for the community.
The West family made arrangements to host the event at the Reeds Spring Intermediate School. Flyers were posted and announcements were made at various places around Stone County. Expecting a large turnout, they cooked meals for 100 residents in the area. Only eleven people came to partake of the dinner. Without skipping a beat, the family loaded up their vehicles and took the rest of the meals to various residents in the area. Some were families that were unable to put a Thanksgiving dinner on their table. The other dinners were delivered to seniors who were homebound or did not have a family or anyone else to cook for them.
At the beginning, the family put their own funds together to support their passion. Major changes have taken place since that humble first year. In 2017, West remarried Reeds Spring native Larry Mease. Her family grew larger. With the couple’s blended family, Shirley now has seven children. The biggest change of all, the annual Thanksgiving Day feast keeps increasing. Last year, four hundred and twenty-five meals were served. Each year more and more people come to the table, and not just to eat. Several who show up are there just to volunteer and help out any way they can. “God is so good. I’m so grateful for the outpouring of caring people in this area,” Mease said. She added there are local businesses, churches and individuals that contribute turkeys and major funding to the annual holiday affair.
This year she is planning to cook five hundred meals to be distributed. The dynamics will be a bit different. Participants of the Thanksgiving Day dinner will not be allowed into the dining room. A person will be waiting curbside for arrivals to drive up, request the number of dinners needed and wait for them to be brought out. Recipients will be able to collect the meals from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Regarding the residential deliveries, nothing will change. Those will be carried out just as they have been in previous years.
This year Shirley Mease is planning on serving thirty-eight turkeys. At the time of the interview, she was slightly short of that goal and seeking volunteers to help her fill the deficit. She is also looking for volunteers to deliver the meals on Thanksgiving Day. If you would like to volunteer to help Shirley or know of a person or family that would like some meals delivered to their home, please contact Shirley at 417.337.3414.
The annual Reeds Spring Thanksgiving Day dinner is making some changes this year. The community feast, in the past, has taken place inside the lunchroom at the Reeds Spring Intermediate School. However, due to the 2020 pandemic, the order of operation will not be the same.
Shirley West, of Reeds Spring started the tradition eleven years ago. In 2007, she lost her husband, Dale. The following year, as she and her four children sat around the table on Thanksgiving Day, they found the holiday had taken a different tone. The couple’s daughter, Crystal Porter, mentioned the holiday did not seem right without their father being there. They began discussions of how they could turn their grief around. It was in 2009, the entire family made plans to utilize their culinary talents and turn their personal loss into a positive gain for the community.
The West family made arrangements to host the event at the Reeds Spring Intermediate School. Flyers were posted and announcements were made at various places around Stone County. Expecting a large turnout, they cooked meals for 100 residents in the area. Only eleven people came to partake of the dinner. Without skipping a beat, the family loaded up their vehicles and took the rest of the meals to various residents in the area. Some were families that were unable to put a Thanksgiving dinner on their table. The other dinners were delivered to seniors who were homebound or did not have a family or anyone else to cook for them.
At the beginning, the family put their own funds together to support their passion. Major changes have taken place since that humble first year. In 2017, West remarried Reeds Spring native Larry Mease. Her family grew larger. With the couple’s blended family, Shirley now has seven children. The biggest change of all, the annual Thanksgiving Day feast keeps increasing. Last year, four hundred and twenty-five meals were served. Each year more and more people come to the table, and not just to eat. Several who show up are there just to volunteer and help out any way they can. “God is so good. I’m so grateful for the outpouring of caring people in this area,” Mease said. She added there are local businesses, churches and individuals that contribute turkeys and major funding to the annual holiday affair.
This year she is planning to cook five hundred meals to be distributed. The dynamics will be a bit different. Participants of the Thanksgiving Day dinner will not be allowed into the dining room. A person will be waiting curbside for arrivals to drive up, request the number of dinners needed and wait for them to be brought out. Recipients will be able to collect the meals from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Regarding the residential deliveries, nothing will change. Those will be carried out just as they have been in previous years.
This year Shirley Mease is planning on serving thirty-eight turkeys. At the time of the interview, she was slightly short of that goal and seeking volunteers to help her fill the deficit. She is also looking for volunteers to deliver the meals on Thanksgiving Day. If you would like to volunteer to help Shirley or know of a person or family that would like some meals delivered to their home, please contact Shirley at 417.337.3414.