Turkey Time : Thanksgiving Feasts Spread Over Several Days for Homeless, Hungry

The holiday season arrived a day early in San Diego this year. It was marked Wednesday by a rush to shopping centers, the unveiling of Christmas decorations and the start of a long round of turkey dinners for the hungry and homeless.

The Thanksgiving meals began on Thanksgiving Eve for San Diego’s homeless at St. Vincent de Paul Center’s St. Didacus Kitchen and Life Ministries’ Rescue Mission. Both held their traditional turkey dinners on Wednesday, bowing to a Thanksgiving Day mass feeding at Golden Hall.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor was among the volunteers at St. Vincent de Paul’s serving lines Wednesday for the traditional turkey, ham and all the trimmings dinner dished out to about 800 diners. The Catholic charitable organization will regroup and serve a hardy pancake, egg and sausage breakfast to all comers this morning.

Workers at the Rescue Mission, armed with the experience of many pre-Thanksgiving feasts, prepared for 1,000 diners Wednesday and were not disappointed. Most of the 700 pounds of turkey, 300 pounds of dressing, 23 gallons of gravy, seven cases of yams and dozens of homemade pies were consumed. The leftovers were refrigerated to be served as an evening buffet today.

“We started serving our holiday meals a day early many years ago so that the needy could count on two days of full stomachs at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It has worked well,” James Flohr, executive director of the Rescue Mission, said Wednesday.

Contrary to popular belief, the average diner at the Rescue Mission meals is a young man, 26 to 28 years old, Flohr said. “Of course, we have a lot of older people and the very young who tell us one thing but who couldn’t be over 15 or 16,” he added.

Father Joseph Carroll said that St. Vincent de Paul volunteers had switched to a day earlier so as not to compete with “the groups that serve a meal once or twice a year on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will be back on the job Friday serving 1,000 meals, probably turkey soup and turkey sandwiches.”