For nearly three decades, the members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Sedona Lodge No. 2291 have cooked and served Thanksgiving dinner to the community — free of charge.
Thursday, Nov. 24, will be the 28th year for the lodge members to invite everyone in the community to come and have Thanksgiving with them. Each year the crowd grows and that’s happy music to their ears. Members also deliver the same meal to people who cannot get out.
“Everybody’s welcome, but we’ll be glad to accept a donation, if they want,” said Don Waggoner, secretary for the lodge. “We keep the menu the same, the foods everybody expects for Thanksgiving: roast turkey, mashed potatoes and plenty of gravy, dressing, yams, topped off with pumpkin pie — with or without whipped cream. It’s tasty either way.”
The only requirement is to come with an appetite and friendly attitude. It often has happened that people meet new friends across the table, Waggoner said.
“We do the cookin’, we do the servin’ and we do the dishes,” he said and let out a little laugh. “There’s always good conversation going on in the dining room. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about. Some people actually come here for their Thanksgiving dinner and skip the day of cooking at home.”
Waggoner is also accepting volunteers who want to help. There’s always room for a couple of more hands.
The dinner is one of the many activities the Elks provide for the community throughout the year, and it’s one of the most fun. It fits in with the Elks goal and dedication to service.
“We’re up to about 50 turkeys now, about 25 pounds each. That’s 1,250 pounds. We keep buying more every year. We don’t want anyone to go home hungry or be turned away because we ran out,” Waggoner said. “This is a long tradition for us.”
The turkeys will be taken to Sedona Red Rock High School. The school has a large convection oven in the cafeteria kitchen that can cook 16 turkeys at a time in 2½ hours. Once cooked, they go back to the lodge where members start carving them up two days ahead of time. It takes that long to do the job, Waggoner said.
While people are busy in the kitchen and serving lines at the lodge, others are packing meals to deliver to the Sedona Fire District stations and the police department, the staff at the Verde Valley Medical Center Sedona Campus and shut-in residents in the Sedona area.
“These people serve our community on Thanksgiving. They should have a hot dinner, too,” Waggoner said. “It’s a great, fun time. Everybody gets together and enjoys themselves over a great meal, and we sure enjoy feeding our community. Thanksgiving is just the best day to do it.”
As people enter the lodge, they are asked to drop items off for the troops overseas and nonperishable food for the hungry, if they are able. Yet, it is not required.
Dinner is served between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. To volunteer to help with the dinner, call 282-7571.
