The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Almost 300 guests were served at the 2022 Carrington Community Thanksgiving Dinner.
The Carrington Community Thanksgiving Dinner is a continuation of 23 years of tradition with dinner served at noon on Thanksgiving Day. This year's dinner will be served at Calvary Baptist Church, 725 Main Street in Carrington.
Shirley Fritza, Betty Montgomery, and Linda Schuster are carrying on a tradition started by Helen and Gary Rosenau, Becky and Lynn Schroeder, and Caroline and Jeff Golz. The trio can't help but remember the care and effort those couples put into establishing the Thanksgiving dinner.
To be honest, this year's theme was developed from five small seeds tucked in Helen's planning folder. Helen saved newspaper and magazine articles and small tokens as ideas for Carrington's dinner. And so, five corn kernels help us focus this year.
Tradition says that early Pilgrims faced tough years soon after their arrival in America, with one drought and famine so severe that the colonists were rationed to just five meager corn kernels per day through the winter. After surviving that famine with just enough seed remaining to plant the next spring, the Pilgrims used five kernels to remember five blessings: Faith, Freedom, Food, Family, and Friends.
And we are certainly blessed with all five! Carrington's faith communities have been integral to the success of the annual dinner, which started as a project of the local ministerial association. Area church congregations are asked to provide stuffing and pies, and they never disappoint.
"The Carrington area – really, all of North Dakota, is so conscious of the blessing of freedom!" says planning committee member Linda Schuster. "And the final trifecta of food, family, and friends is evident through all of the planning, preparation, and serving of this meal. Related by blood or not, we welcome our 'Thanksgiving Family' each year as we reunite over peeling potatoes, wrapping flatware, boning turkeys, and delivering meals."
People of all ages come for dinner, for all kinds of reasons. And some folks wouldn't think of eating Thanksgiving dinner anywhere else but with our community.
The menu includes succulent, roasted turkey with homemade gravy, mounds of real mashed potatoes and stuffing. There will also be buttery sweet corn, glazed sweet potatoes and crisp coleslaw. Take your pick of jellied or whole berry, cranberry sauce, freshly baked buns, cold milk and hot coffee. And pie – more than forty delicious pies: pumpkin, apple, rhubarb and pecan and others.
A surprise feature each year comes in the form of hand-decorated placemats, colored by art students at Carrington Elementary School.
Volunteers are needed on Wednesday afternoon, November 22 at 1:00 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, 725 Main Street. The team will peel potatoes (bring your favorite peeler); wrap flatware; setup workspaces, tables and chairs; and set tables with placemats and cups. Other volunteers will be boning and carving turkeys.
On Thursday morning, the committee and a few others will arrive early to start cooking again. Then another wave of volunteers will arrive – the food line and delivery team. Dishwashers and a clean-up team work their magic throughout the day.
If you would like to volunteer for a brief shift on Thursday, please contact Linda Schuster at 653-6028 to sign up.
Everyone is welcome! The meal is free, but a freewill offering will be accepted to offset expenses and continue this friendly community custom.
If you would like a ride or meals delivered on Thanksgiving Day, please contact Betty Montgomery at 652-3302 or 652-5034 (leave a message) by November 22. Call the Calvary Baptist Church building at 652-2162 on November 22 and Thanksgiving Day.
It is important to remember that attendance at any public event carries health risks. If you do not feel well, please stay home - and call for delivery.
Questions should be directed to Linda Schuster at 701-653-6028.
