Thanksgiving meals offered to all in the spirit of service
Waiting outside the Open Door Mission on Main Street for Thanksgiving dinner to begin, Mackey West thought about what he was thankful for, and about his many regrets.
“I’m grateful for the Open Door Mission and a lot of these shelters, because I could be in the streets or under a bridge. I could be hungry right now, but I ain’t. I’m full,” he said.
At shelters and churches around the city on Thursday, people found a few hours of friendship, a place to share their own good fortune, or simply a hot meal.
“My whole situation brought me here,” said West, who confided that problems with drugs, drinking and general irresponsibility have affected his life. “I’m not happy where I’m at, but it’s a wakeup call.”
Ronald Fox, Open Door’s executive director, said this was his 28th Thanksgiving at the mission — and the mission’s 58th anniversary. He was expecting 350 or 400 people for dinner, mostly single men like West and others lined up outside.
Fox and his wife, children, mother, sister and other friends and relatives were working to get dinner ready. “They don’t know the traditional sense of a holiday like other people do,” he said. “They know service.”
In East Rochester, St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church hosted their first Thanksgiving meal.
“People from the community, people from the city — it was a whole mix,” said Kristy Estey, youth minister for both churches.
The meal also served as the first monthly community dinner, which in the future will be on the last Sunday of the month, Estey said.
At St. Stanislaus Church on Hudson Street, members of several area parishes and others gathered.
Richard and Joe Urbanik came with their mother, Maria, who used to cook Thanksgiving dinner at home but has been slowed by illness.
“We decided to give her a break,” said Richard Urbanik.
For Joe Urbanik, it was a difficult year. He quit his job, he said, to take care of his mother. “Family comes first,” he said. They ate plates overloaded with ham, turkey, sweet and mashed potatoes and more.
In the kitchen, Bob McClarrie had been cooking since 6 a.m. — five turkeys, four hams and more than 100 pounds of potatoes. McClarrie, who owns an auto repair shop, became St. Stanislaus’ once-a-year chef after Father Adam Ogorzaly heard he’d been cooking for the Knights of Columbus.
“Everybody’s got to do something like this at least once a year,” McClarrie said. “If they did, wouldn’t it be a lovely world?”
Dodie Piersielak had been planning to volunteer at St. Stanislaus on Thursday, then have dinner with her mother, Agnes Marciniak. But Mrs. Marciniak died last week, 42 days shy of her 102nd birthday. Piersielak said she was glad to be in the company of friends.
“It’s good for me. It’s kind of selfish to say that,” said Piersielak, who had just finished serving mashed potatoes to a line of about 100 people.
Even so, her mind was sometimes elsewhere.
“My grandparents were married here. My mother was baptized, married and tomorrow she’s going to be buried here.”
NRAMOS@DemocratandChronicle.com
