The Warsaw Lodge of Elks 802’s annual Thanksgiving dinner served over 700 people this year.
This year’s dinner, which was the lodge’s 40th, was not traditional, as it was carry-out only. People were able to pick up meals at American Legion Post #49, 301 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw, or have the meals delivered.
Roger Hughes, head trustee for the lodge, said roughly 50% of the people that were served were pick-ups and 50% were deliveries. Between 712 and 720 people were served Thursday.
“We were very pleased that we could be of such service to the community,” Hughes said.
Hughes said this year was one of the first years the lodge has run out of food. The dinner was supposed to be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday but, “we did not make it to 1 o’clock,” he said.
He said as far as he knew, the lodge didn’t turn anyone away. There was one family he said he believed came to the lodge after they ran out of food, and the workers pulled money out of their pockets and told the family to have a dinner on them.
Hughes said the lodge isn’t the only ones who make the annual Thanksgiving dinner possible, as local businesses and organizations make donations and drivers and cooks donate their time.
“There’s a lot of people involved,” Hughes said.
This year was different due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Hughes adding that there weren’t many restaurants open Thanksgiving that served a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner.
