Food & Recipes

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ― Thanksgiving Day events planned around the Bay Area will provide those in need with a traditional meal at the hands of generous volunteers who use their holiday to give back.

One of the Bay Area's largest Thanksgiving Day dinners will be held at San Francisco's Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, 330 Ellis St.

The church, with the help of nearly 1,000 volunteers, will prepare and serve a Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings to up to 7,000 homeless and low-income people, including hundreds of families, the Rev. Cecil Williams said.

"We expect, of course, to have more people to feed this year than we did last year," Williams said. "We are just trying to make sure to be prepared so we have enough food for people who may in fact not have any other place to go."

Williams said homeless and low-income families, especially those with children, need to feel a sense of support from their communities to get through hard times and the holidays.

"We want to be sure that people understand there is a community of people who are genuinely concerned about their comfort and their empowerment," he said.

Thursday's celebration will begin at 9 a.m. and run until 2 p.m.

On Wednesday, Glide's preparations began. Volunteers congregated beginning at 10 a.m. and worked for several hours. Macy's Culinary Council Chef Andre Robinson joined volunteers to prepare all of the dessert for the Glide Thanksgiving Day meal as part of the Macy's Million Meals Donation.

Volunteers had gathered at the church Wednesday morning to begin preparing the pumpkin spice cake, spokeswoman Denise Lamott said.

Macy's, as one of Glide's community partners, was stuffing bag lunches to hand out at the church Friday, Lamott said. Fed Ex donated trucks to transport ingredients from the San Francisco Food Bank to Glide, she said.

Restaurants and other agencies in other parts of the Bay Area will also work to provide a hot Thanksgiving Day meal.

Mountain View's Ristorante Don Giovanni will hold an "Annual Community Day of Thanks" Thursday, offering free turkey dinners from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., owner John Akkaya said.

Akkaya said he moved from Eastern Turkey to Chicago in 1980. Working in a restaurant and volunteering each Thanksgiving, Akkaya said he promised himself that he would continue the tradition if he were lucky enough to open his own restaurant.

His Mountain View eatery, Ristorante Don Giovanni at 235 Castro St., has been serving free turkey dinners to the community for 19 years.

"It has become part of my life," he said. "Last year we did almost 1,000 people. This year I'm expecting more than that."

Akkaya said everyone is welcome and that no questions are asked.

"I wish everybody comes," Akkaya said. "I encourage everybody to come, invite everybody to come. It's like inviting them to come to my home. I have a lot of thanks and the community has been very good to me."

In the East Bay, the Martinez Moose Lodge will offer thanks to the community by serving a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.

The lodge served its first community Thanksgiving Day meal last year, spokesman Craig Cannon said.

"We have a lot of homeless folks out there that need a nice hot meal for that day," he said. "It worked out very well."

About 50 or 60 people attended the dinner last year. Cannon said with the economic downturn this year, the lodge at 414 Escobar St. in downtown Martinez is expecting more diners.

"This year we're expecting well over 100 or more," he said.

Peninsula individuals and families in need will also have an opportunity to give thanks over a hot meal at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, 725 Monte Diablo in San Mateo.

Samaritan House, a private nonprofit that fills daily needs for low-income San Mateo County residents, will serve the free meal to an estimated 200 to 300 people from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., organizers said. The annual event is a popular volunteering opportunity.

"People call months ahead to get the chance to help serve and participate," director of volunteers Michele Canning said in a prepared statement. "We're lucky to have such tremendous support from the community."

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)