This is just a reminder of how wonderful the inaugural celebration was and how much I appreciated all of your help. Are you ready for the Tahoe Community Thanksgiving Celebration 2012? It is almost upon us. We have 90 days from today. Yikes!. I'm not ready yet are you? Start thinking about your role in the upcoming Second Annual Tahoe Community Thanksgiving Celebration. Call me, email me let me know what you want to do this year!.
Thank You Redux!
Thank You Redux!
This is just a little note to say thank you to all the wonderful people who donated to and were involved in the Inaugural Tahoe Thanksgiving Celebration. It was a big success and was well attended for a first time event. It was so well received that there are plans in the works for the Second Annual Tahoe Thanksgiving Celebration to be held on Thursday November 22, 2012 . Stay tuned for more information.
My personal vision for this project was several fold. The celebration was to be a place for people from all walks of life. Where everyone could have a food filled, fun, comfortable, place to celebrate Thanksgiving, not just a feeding station or a soup kitchen, but rather a community gathering where people could linger and socialize with old friends and make some new ones as well.
Volunteers were a large part of that vision especially ones who were interested in making Thanksgiving something special for themselves, their families and even complete strangers. We had volunteers come to set up and decorate on Wednesday and even more to take home food and cook for the event. Many came and served while others helped clean up and tear down. We could not have done it without the incredibly faithful, tireless and hardworking dishwashers who spent the entire time in the kitchen. There over 100 volunteers including kids and teens involved in the project. Part of the vision was to make sure that those who attended became engaged and involved, not just sitting around but becoming part of the action and activities.
Great food, plenty of it and enough to send home for others was another factor in the planning of this event. Project MANA, several local restaurants and many other volunteers made this aspect happen. Besides feeding the over 250 people who attended we handed out 100 quarts of fresh turkey soup and over 150 “to go” containers of meals complete with dessert. Some of these meals stayed within the families who took them and many more were delivered to people who were unable to attend the event, effectively “paying it forward” and sharing the joy. This was an important factor to me and those involved in putting on the celebration. We wanted the event to reach out much further into the community than just the group who attended.
We had a kids corner, a DJ, a dance instructor and a big screen t.v. to round out the festivities all of these were volunteer operated, there was no time for anyone to get bored. Most people were seen grinning from ear to ear, even the exhausted volunteers many commented that it was the best Thanksgiving ever. That is exactly what we were hoping to see and hear. Based upon all of these factors the Inaugural Tahoe Thanksgiving Celebration was an unconditional success.
Under the auspices of United for Action and a new group we are calling Tahoe Neighborhood Table we are working on 3 more community meals one each for February, March and April. We are also checking into the concept of monthly or weekly hot lunches at a convenient location. If you have any input on that concept please feel free to contact me, we need all the help we can get.
Thank you all again for your involvement and we hope you will join us again in 2012.
