St. Mary’s dinner brightens holiday for 150 diners

Normally too many cooks in the kitchen is a bad thing, but this Thanksgiving, everyone was being particularly forgiving as they bumped around the kitchen at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Corvallis. The annual free Thanksgiving dinner always draws a crowd, not just of diners grateful for a holiday meal, but other community members who want to express their thanks by giving back to their neighbors.

“We’re the stir team,” said Theresa Stephens, who was moving vats of green beans into one of the Stone Soup ovens. It was Stephens’ first time volunteering to help prepare the free dinner.

“We decided not to have the family over and to give back,” Stephens said. “This has been fun. And we get to go home to a clean house.”

Stephens arrived at 1 p.m. to start helping prepare the dinner, which including making four large bins of salad and doing other work to prepare for the feast.

“We’re the all-day team,” she said, as the 5:30 p.m. serving time quickly approached. They planned to help serve and then eat along with the 150 or so folks who showed up for dinner.

“And we’ll clean up, too,” Peter Owens piped up behind her.

Stephens, who works at Hewlett-Packard, already fits a lot of volunteer activities on her plate, from serving on the board of directors at Jackson Street Youth Shelter to participating on the da Vinci Days board. She also is a member of the local music group Maharimbas and recently returned from visiting Corvallis’ sister city, Uzhgorod, Ukraine, where the group held 17 performances in nine days. She also teaches music to young people.

It was Janelle Hall’s first time serving Thanksgiving dinner at Stone Soup but in high school, she volunteered in the soup kitchen. She recently moved back to Corvallis from Portland, so she was excited to join her parents, Charlotte and Art Hall, as they helped dish out food.

With her sister recently married and her brother spending Thanksgiving with his girlfriend, Janelle, and her parents decided they’d rather spend Thanksgiving giving to others.

“This is it,” she said of her plans for the holiday, as she stood next to one of the large drink containers, ready to pour refreshments. “I’m getting those drinks out.”

Hall, who is an apparel design student at Linn-Benton Community College, said she was pleased to see so many volunteers participate in the dinner.

“It’s just awesome to see the community work together,” she said.

Connor Benson, 16, sprained his ankle last weekend while playing soccer, but that didn’t stop him from volunteering Thursday with his mom, Mary Benson. He said he planned to prop himself up against the edge of the big sink and help wash dishes, putting his crutches aside for a while in order to help out.

“It’s good to help people who are less fortunate,” he said.

The closer it got to 5:30 p.m., the more frantic the kitchen became. Steve Chovanec, who was leading the charge, kept volunteers on their toes. On one side of the room, two women were dishing out a vat of mashed potatoes into a pan, while nearby, three others were dumping a huge pile of butter containers into a bowl.

“We’ve got to get them rolls in the oven,” he shouted. “I need the big trays first.”

As Sandy Chapman hurried past carrying the trays, he gave a sigh.

“It’s like a symphony now,” he said. “I love it when a plan comes together.”

It was Chapman’s first time as a volunteer. The Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center nurse has lived in Philomath for three years, and decided she’d spend her Thanksgiving doing something different.

“It’s time to do something for the community,” she said. Saturday, she’ll go visit her grown children, and they’ll all bring a different part of the Thanksgiving dinner to share but Thursday night, she was focused on serving neighbors she’d never met before.

Meanwhile, while it was hot in the kitchen, outside a light drizzle was making the air even colder for the people gathered waiting to eat. Donna, a woman who was born and raised in Corvallis, has been living on the street for years, and often comes to eat at Stone Soup.

Thursday night, she was snuggling with her dog, Bondo, whom she found as a puppy five years ago in California. Bondo is her constant companion.

“He’s a camp dog,” she said. She planned on bringing Bondo a little Thanksgiving snack.

“He’s spoiled,” she said with a smile. “He gets everything I get.”

Bondo responded with a waggle. Donna said that despite living outside, they were making the holiday bearable together.

“We do pretty good.”