Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Nov. 13, 2024 – As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, volunteers are needed for the annual Jonesboro Community Thanksgiving Meal.

This free meal will be held on Thanksgiving Day from 10:30 a.m. to noon, or until food is gone, at the St. Bernards Auditorium at 505 E. Washington Ave. Volunteers should arrive by 9 to 9:30 a.m.

“We need more drivers than anything and people to fill trays, but we need people to serve, clean up, and drive,” said Jonesboro Community Thanksgiving Meal Coordinator Barbara Sanders. “Then we have some people that just don’t want to do any of it, and they just want to visit with people while they eat, which is also important. We have a lot of homeless people come, and they just need somebody to sit down and talk to them, just to not feel like they’re just fed and gone. Plus, we have several older people that like to come and sit with those people and visit.”

The daughter of Jim Grisham, one of the original founders of the meal, Sanders noted that their family has been serving meals to the community for three generations, including her daughter Samantha Hess.

“This is a third-generation thing. My daddy was on the first committee. They started it as a random act of kindness group in 1996. They were doing random acts of kindness, and they decided that they were going to have a meal,” she laughed. “Since then, we’ve been going every year except 2002 and then 2020 for COVID.”

Sanders added that each church did their own thing to feed those in need on Thanksgiving. However, in 1999, the churches decided to collaborate and feed the entire community.

Sanders also noted the preparation process that goes into the meal, which she says they have streamlined after 20 years.

“We meet one time a year on the Monday right after Labor Day. It’s that organized,” she said. “There’s about six of us and Greg Vance does our food prep, so he orders all of it. Butterball donates our turkeys through the food bank, and then it’s just a handful of phone calls to make sure that the churches that have always provided what they provide are going to do it again.”

According to Sanders, they gave out 2,238 meals last year in an hour and 45 minutes.

“If we didn’t have Greg and his crew to get that food together and get it cooked and warmed and carted from his place to auditorium, I don’t know what we’d do,” she laughed. “He comes rolling in with warmers, and here we go. We’re off just as soon as he gets there. Greg does all the cooking. Seriously. Every bit of it.”

However, she did note that the desserts were all donated as were many of the supplies needed to serve the meal.

“We get about two to 250 desserts from NEA Baptist and the rest of the desserts are brought in by the community,” she said, noting that the majority of donations, including from food to paper goods, come local churches and businesses.

To donate a dessert, community members can drop off non-refrigerated desserts in disposable containers on Nov. 27 from 1-5 p.m. at the St. Bernards Auditorium. Notify meal workers if the dessert is sugar-free so it can be kept separate.

To pre-order for delivery, contact the First Methodist Church at 870-790-0624 by Nov. 26 during normal business hours, or order online. There is a limit of up to six meals per family/address, however, people can contact jonesborocommunitythanksgiving@gmail.com if they need more. Deliveries are within Jonesboro city limits only.

Thanksgiving Day orders, for people that can’t get out, must be called from 8-10 a.m. at 870-336-2358. Delivery orders placed by phone or online will be served first. Meals will be on a first come first serve basis.

“We’ve been very blessed that so many churches and businesses are willing to help us,” Sanders said. “It is absolutely my favorite day of the year.”

For more information or updates on the event, visit Jonesboro Community Thanksgiving on Facebook.