COMMISSIONER SERVING … Williams County Commissioner Bart Westfall serves a plate filled with turkey and all of the trimmings during the Williams County Department of Aging annual Thanksgiving Dinner held Thursday, November 20, at the Veterans’ Memorial Building in Montpelier.
SHERIFF ASSISTS … Williams County Sheriff Tom Kochert helps serve a Thanksgiving dinner to a senior citizen at the Williams County Department of Aging’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, November 20.
PHOTOS BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
HEALTH DEPARTMENT HELPER … Williams County Health Department Commissioner Oscar Hernandez, III, serves a thanksgiving dinner to a senior citizen in the Williams County Department of Aging annual Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, November 20.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
It has been a holiday tradition in years past for the annual Williams County Department of Aging Thanksgiving Dinner held on Thursday, November 20, at the Veteran’s Memorial Building.
This year’s Turkey Day dinner attracted 300 senior citizens across Williams County gobbling on the traditional holiday feast of turkey and dressing along with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, dinner roll and topped it all off with pumpkin pie being served.
“It has been one of the institutions that we’ve always had,” said Department of Aging director Sarah Stubblefield. Stubblefield added that once this year’s dinner is over, the department will get together and ask themselves what they can do differently and how they can improve and get feedback.
Once all those questions are answered, planning for next year’s Thanksgiving Dinner begins in the summer months.
“Starting in the summer, we start to like to make sure that we have the food and know what we are doing and how many people we’re going to invite,” commented Stubblefield.
In October, the Department of Aging would order food products for this year’s Thanksgiving Dinner, serving 300-plus people who had attended the sold-out holiday event.
“We have been working on this for days,” admitted Stubblefield in preparation for this year’s dinner. This is a big event for us, and it takes all hands-on-deck with everyone on my staff has been working for the last few days to make it possible.”
She had enlisted the help of every senior center site manager throughout the county along with the kitchen staffs from all those sites. They have been very beneficial in putting on another successful Thanksgiving Dinner.
“This morning, we had our home-delivered meals come out in a different kitchen so we can have the kitchen available to cook here,” said Stubblefield.
“And our transportation staff helps the folks come in so they can celebrate with us. It’s really everybody.”
For many senior citizens in Williams County, the Thanksgiving Dinner is something they’ve been looking forward to all year long, but for some others, it’s also the only time they celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.
“For some people, like myself, included, this is our Thanksgiving,” said Stubblefield. “This is our opportunity to celebrate the holiday, so it’s very important.
“There are so many families today who are blending out the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), where you either see them either at Thanksgiving or Christmas.”
Serving a Thanksgiving dinner for 300-plus people could be overwhelming, but representatives from several Williams County government offices, including the Commissioners, Probate Court, Health Department, Sheriff’s Office, the Treasurer and Recorder offices who provided their own time in helping with this longstanding holiday tradition.
“Every year we do this, we come out both myself and a couple of staff members would help out,” said Williams County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Karen Gallagher.
“This is a really great day. We enjoy this, and we just make this a priority every year. It’s on our schedules, and we love coming out here, talking to everyone that comes out and enjoys this event. It’s a big event, and Sarah (Stubblefield) does a great job.”
Gallagher was one of many servers who helped serve the dinners to the senior citizens and enjoyed spending time with them.
“It’s a great event and we’re very lucky in Williams County to have this event,” said Gallagher, who has been helping for the past four years.
Williams County Health Department Commissioner Oscar Hernandez III said he was very excited to be a part of this holiday event. It was also the first time he had helped.
“Sarah (Stubblefield) had sent out the invite a couple of weeks ago, and I asked my team about this, though we’ve been busy,” said Hernandez III.
“This is an opportunity for us to network with our citizens here and just show the face of who we are and what we do.
“We’re happy to see the community and how Sarah (Stubblefield) put together such a great event. We’re super thankful to be here.”
Among the volunteers who helped out with the annual Thanksgiving Dinner were Scott Lirot, Terry Rummel, Bart Westfall, Karen Gallagher, Susan Sheets, Alexandra Jacoby, Oscar Hernandez, III, Kailea Holbrook, Tom Kochert, Kelly Gray, Patti Rockey, Carrie Schlade, Hayley Schmidt, Stacy DeMore, Heidi Bauer, Sam Canada, Shawn Clifton, Jamie Hausch, Shanna McKelvey, Elise Siegel, Sarah Stubblefield, Lisa Taylor, Lisa Seiler, Joan Horne, Mark Hall, Cindy Tingle, Dorothy Thompson, Kelly Head, Dawn Kunkel and Lisa Ulrich.
Providing musical entertainment was Gene Zenz, who performed many selections for the dinner.
Stubblefield was moved by the generosity and how much everyone gave their time and talent in making Thanksgiving Dinner a huge success every year for senior citizens.
“I’m really thankful for the community that they continue to sponsor us and with their levy dollars to trust us to be able to do this,” said Stubblefield.