Volunteers needed for Carrington's Community Thanksgiving Dinner November 28

Organizers are planning Carrington's 24th annual community Thanksgiving dinner for Thursday, Nov. 28. This year's meal will be served at Calvary Baptist Church, 725 Main Street in Carrington, at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone is welcome.

Volunteers are needed to help with several facets of this community dinner. Most of the work happens on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 27, and on Thanksgiving Day. Volunteers are welcome to help at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at the church building, to set up tables and chairs, peel potatoes, roll flatware, and set and decorate tables with colorful placemats.

Whole turkeys are roasted in private homes, and organizers are looking for additional people to provide oven space for 15-pound and 20-pound turkeys. Frozen turkeys and roasting bags will be provided. Fully-cooked turkeys need to be at the church building early on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 27.

Area churches have been asked to provide pies and stuffing, as has been the custom. To serve an increasing number of diners, some churches have been asked to provide more stuffing than last year. Fully-cooked stuffing should be delivered to Calvary's kitchen on Wednesday afternoon.

All take-out and delivery meals are packed with traditional pumpkin pie. After deliveries last year, only a few pumpkin pies remained for in-house meal, even after pulling a "spare" pumpkin pie from a back room. Berry pies are very popular, too. Because of limited refrigerator space, there is no room to store frozen or cream pies. Six pies have been requested from each local church, for delivery on Wednesday afternoon.

New this year, a limited number of gluten-free meals will be available. Two turkeys will be roasted separately on Wednesday at the church building with no flour in the roasting bag. Broth from those turkeys will be held separately to make gluten-free gravy. Mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, coleslaw, cranberries, and pickles have always been gluten-free, but extra care will be taken to isolate cooking and serving utensils to protect the integrity of those foods. Gluten-free desserts will be served separately on yellow plates.

Everyone is welcome! The meal is free, but a free-will offering will be accepted to offset expenses and continue this friendly community custom.

Opportunities to help:

• Roasting turkeys: contact Linda Schuster at 701-653-6028 for details.

• Preparing stuffing or baking pies: check with your local church for sign-up.

• Set-up at 1 p.m. on Wednesday: no notice needed! Come to Calvary's church building at 725 Main Street and bring your favorite peeler.

• Clean-up on Thursday: contact Linda Schuster at number below for details.

Volunteers should contact Linda Schuster at 701-653-6028 to roast a turkey, provide additional pies or stuffing, or to volunteer for a short shift on Thursday for clean-up after 1 p.m.

Questions about Carrington's Community Thanksgiving Dinner should also be directed to her at that number.