By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Feeding people in need on Thanksgiving goes beyond providing a meal.
There’s the human spirit that needs to be fed, and there were a whole lot of people filling up their spirits as they enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together in Texas City.
“Barbra White is the woman in the white t-shirt with the orange hair—she’s the one in charge.” states one of the volunteers at the entrance to Texas City’s Community Thanksgiving Feast.
Barbara White may be the one in charge of getting everyone together, but she has handed over the operations to her volunteers and she doesn’t take credit for the success of the feast.
“It can’t be done without all the help from the community” she shared.
She’s been running the feast for 29 years, and according to her childhood friend, Nancy, she’s been matching people with the things they need since they were both young girls in third grade.
“If there was someone who needed something, Barbra would find a way to fill that need. She had no problem going out and asking others to give to people,” Nancy explained.
A community Thanksgiving Feast was needed, and Barbra made it happen.
Churches and non-profit organizations contribute to the feast. Guests are given a freshly made Thanksgiving dinner and a chance to take home a gently used jacket and blanket along with a bag of groceries.
The kitchen is a steady buzz of activity. Volunteers are stirring pots of green beans or serving up one of the items on the dinner menu. Others are at the sink washing pots and other items.
There’s not a whole lot of chit chat in the kitchen. Mostly all you hear are voices saying things like, “More white meat needed” and “Do we have anymore corn?”
The team is choreographed as it fills each platter with dinner. Then the cafeteria team delivers the food with smiles and kindness.
The Wright family comes together each year to represent the Texas City Mainland Lion Club as kitchen volunteers. They ladle food steadily and quiet.
Before the doors were opened for the feast, the team had already delivered 128 meals to individuals who could not come out. While the feast was in progress, White received calls from the community requesting a meal delivery. Her grandson volunteered his services as the Thanksgiving dinner dasher.
Texas City resident Sandra was making her way into the Kukral Hall at Our Lady of Fatima School to enjoy her first ever Texas City Community Thanksgiving Feast. Nearing the door, she saw a line and went back to her car to retrieve her walker/chair.
“If I’m in a line for voting or anything, this goes with me,” Sandra explained. She opted to come to the community feast because her daughter would be spending the day with her own in-laws.
Rather than hang out alone on Thanksgiving, Sandra followed the prompting of White, who had passed out 5,000 flyers across Texas City and LaMarque inviting everyone to the feast.
“I told people you don’t need to eat at home alone. Come to the feast,” White said.
People came, many of them not so much because the food was free but to be with other people.
Maria Ross and her husband Arthur Ross, along with another couple Terry Earl and Audrey Earl, have been serving at the feast for 10-20 years. The Earls and the Rosses are members at Mem 1 church which had been assigned to provide the cornbread stuffing.
They love to help others, but they also come out because their children have grown up and moved away, so the feast is their way of celebrating Thanksgiving while filling their spirits as they give back to the community.
It turns out the cornbread dressing made by the empty-nest couples is the very best Sandra has had in a long time.
“I love cornbread dressing if it’s made well,” Sandra shared.
Sandra reminisces about the days when she enjoyed her mother’s daily batch of cornbread.
Another couple have been coming since their children were students at Our Lady of Fatima School. They continue to come even though their children are older.
“We are from Mexico, and I really don’t know how to cook turkey. This tradition is not part of our culture, so we come here to be part of the community,” said the woman in Spanish.
Gabriel, a volunteer, is a first timer at the feast. His task is to greet attendees and to assist people as they select their jackets and blankets. He, like others, is celebrating Thanksgiving without his family and has embraced the concept of celebrating by giving to others.
Barely able to walk on legs that have numerous medical conditions, Bridgette Moore has been coming to the feast since the year her mother died.
“I was really depressed watching my mama die of cancer, and she wanted a Thanksgiving meal. It was in 2014. I came here and brought home a meal for her. I’ve been coming ever since, except when COVID kept it closed down,” Bridget said.
She has one grandson and one granddaughter. Her grandson, Jordan, came along with her. Together they picked up new-to-them jackets for the upcoming cold season.
“There’s a lot of people like me who are hurting, and we are really blessed to have this feast.” Bridget said.
Her mom died on Christmas day in 2014.
Scott was driving to be with his brother for their family Thanksgiving when he saw the signs for the feast. “I started thinking about the weather since it’s raining and cold, and it was gonna be an hour and a half drive to get to my brother. I didn’t want to be on the road, and I just pulled over here,” he explained.
He had been in the printing business for his career and reminisced about the smell of ink and holding a printed newspaper or magazine in his hands. He hails from Houston and is a native Texan. He has retired in Texas City.
Bachelors, Mycol, and Tyki are roommates. They didn’t think they could make a meal as delicious as the one at the feast, so they came out and enjoyed the meal.
Mycol shares that Tyki is Greek.
Tyki was born in Galveston and grew up in New Jersey. He worked as an x-ray technician.
“He was saving people’s lives,” Mycol said.
Mycol writes children’s books. He is originally from Humble but is now calling Texas City home.
Doc Amey, a resident of Texas City serves as a volunteer at the feast and makes sure to offer words of encouragement and praise to each of the guests.
Numerous volunteers using gentle voices and smiles assist the guests in finding a sit or getting a bag of groceries to take home. The day was designed to provide for those in need, and volunteers made sure each guest was treated with dignity and respect.
How many pounds of food were fed to the guests? How many jackets were handed out? Those numbers aren’t so important in the end. They are just numbers of tangibles that can be measured.
What can’t be measured is what really matters.
The good feelings, the filling up of the human spirit, the emotional support, the feeling that someone cared enough about others to be sure no one went without Thanksgiving dinner, and no one had to be alone. These nontangibles will outlast the meal and maybe even bring a little comfort to hurting souls during the coming colder days of winter.
