Donna McFate of Callaway doesn’t like the idea of anyone being alone on a day like Thanksgiving, which prompted her to do something about that.

Ten years ago, McFate - with the help of her husband Merlin and daughter Jessica Larson - launched a community Thanksgiving dinner in Callaway. Donna was running the bar in town at the time and saw first-hand that there were people with no place to go for Thanksgiving, so she decided to invite some people to the bar and stayed open that day to serve a Thanksgiving lunch.

“That first year we opened up, we had about 30 people that weren’t relatives, so we did it again the next year and it got a little bigger. So we moved it to the Senior Center,” McFate explained. “Then Covid hit so we skipped that year, so technically this is our ninth event but 10 years.”

McFate said they also outgrew the Senior Center, and two years ago moved the dinner to the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. “It’s just the right size. We aren’t affiliated with the church in terms of the dinner, it is just the host site,” she said.

McFate and her daughter provide the meat for the dinner along with mashed potoatoes and gravy, dressing, vegetables, dinner rolls and pies. 'Merlin's mom always makes the dinner rolls for me,' she added.

Those who attend bring side dishes to accompany the meal.

“We usually do turkey, ham, pork roast and roast beef. We don’t do this for any particular reason. I also use some donations that come in for the dinner to purchase gift bags for each of the residents at the care home. People have been so good about helping out.”

They never know for sure how many to expect for the dinner, but McFate said they always have enough food. “Our goal is at least 100. We have lots of potatoes to peel!,” she laughed.

The dinner is simply an opportunity for folks in town to get together, a way to make sure no one is left alone a time to show gratitude for how blessed we are.