V olunteers behind Durangos 25th annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner pulled off the improbable, again: They provided a perfectly prepared Thanksgiving meal Thursday to more than 700 people at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, and almost 100 more in home deliveries, without a whiff of familial bickering or the rash declarations of an intoxicated uncle.
As families, children, college students and the elderly streamed into the fairgrounds, Gordon Clouser, the dinners volunteer coordinator, surveyed the room and said, This is the best thing the town does.
The dinner was sponsored by Durango Shared Ecumenical Ministries: Christ the King Lutheran Church, Congregation Har Shalom, First United Methodist Church, Mercy Regional Medical Center, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, St. Columba Catholic Church, St. Marks Episcopal Church and The River Church.
Many local businesses pitched in. Durango Joes opened early to supply the volunteers with free coffee. Bread and Jean-Pierres donated baked goods, and so did Bayfields Sundown Bakery.
Kassidy Byington, of Kassidys Kitchen, said this year was his first time volunteering.
Ive wanted to do it for years, now Im a business owner, I finally can, said Byington, who, along with CJs, turned his ovens over to the dinner for warming potatoes.
Mary Ralph, the director of the community dinner, said the feat required 35 turkeys weighing 20 to 25 pounds, 19 giant pans of stuffing, 14 pans of mashed potatoes, 14 pans of green beans, 14 pans of yams, 36 cans of cranberry sauce, 20 to 25 cans of whipped cream, pies from all over the community, 30 gallons of gravy, 10 gallons of fruit salad, 8 pounds of celery, and good Lord, about 15 pounds of carrots.
Ralph, who has directed the dinner for five years, recited that list from memory.
Purchasing, preparing, cooking, transporting and serving so immense a quantity of food required not only the labor of hundreds of volunteers but the also unflagging efforts of a supercommittee.
Theres a core team group of about 10 of us, said Ralph. Then several people who we communicate with via email like local churches and via snail mail. Every year, we start organizing the day after Thanksgiving, by evaluating what we did the day before, so we dont forget what the glitches were, she said.
Romelle Malone led a team of volunteers in transforming the Fairgrounds into an inviting banquet hall.
Clifford Summers, who has volunteered for 14 years, roved outside the kitchen area, coordinating the delivery of almost a hundred meals for the homebound.
Meanwhile Clouser monitored volunteers comings and goings while fielding calls from his wife at home.
Its hectic. People keep calling the house, telling my wife they want to volunteer this morning. But Ive had the list set for weeks! he said.
Though retired from the U.S. Air Force, Clouser brings a military sensibility to timekeeping.
He has so many spread sheets, said Ralph.
Obviously, things have to click things in the kitchen have to be taken care of obviously a hundred things have to occur. But once its scheduled correctly, people are anxious to help. Really, Thanksgiving is the busy day itself once Ive got everything scheduled, things flow by themselves.
Train conductors might find much to admire in Gordons meticulous program for Thursdays dinner. More than 30 duties from pie serving to ferrying meals to people at home are predetermined, down to 15-minute intervals.
Organizers agreed that the responsibilities of Lee Goddard, who has served as the dinners kitchen coordinator for more than 15 years, were among the most treacherous.
Lee said, My wife laughs at my position because at home, I cant even boil water. I am not a chef!
First-time volunteers Nellis Taullbee and her husband, Bruce Nielson, were supposed to be done at the fairgrounds at 8 a.m. But the kitchen was shorthanded. On discovering that Taullbee had 18 years of kitchen experience, Goddard asked her to oversee the ovens.
I was supposed to work today, grinned Taullbee. But Ill probably spend all my hours here, Im enjoying it so much.
Outside the kitchen, Lorraine and Cindy Maynes, a mother and daughter, said they had been looking forward to the community dinner for days. The two women attend the dinner every year.
We cant wait for turkey and all the trimmings, said Lorraine Maynes.
The food is so delicious and wonderful, said Cindy Maynes. Were born and raised here. Its just so nice everyone gets together, you see old friends and meet new people.
Lee echoed the Maynes love of the annual dinner.
Without being a sentimental slob, its just watching the people come together and enjoying the foodstuffs and the companionship. The very fact that it is people from all walks of life, who are there for any number of reasons the companionship, because theyre elderly and they dont want to cook or because theyre needy its truly a community event, said Lee.
Despite such fullsome praise for the community dinner, Ralph dismissed her accomplishments as its maestro.
The community dinner it was all the vision of Father Mike Darmour now in Heaven, said Ralph, referring to the late Rev. Myron T. Father Mike Darmour, a former chaplain at Mercy Regional Medical Center who also founded Meals on Wheels. He and Bob Blandy started it all 25 years ago. Im just the troubleshooter. I try and make everyone elses jobs easier.
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