By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

November 22, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – A line began to form outside of Della Lamb Community Services’ Mabee Center gymnasium at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 22, as more than a thousand area residents waited patiently for their chance to pick up ingredients for a full Thanksgiving meal.

The community service organization’s 24th annual Operation Thanksgiving event kicked off in earnest just after 9:00 a.m., when individuals who’d been waiting patiently for hours were allowed inside the gym to begin collecting fixings for their holiday meals. Roughly 1,400 low-income families were invited to the event to collect several grocery bags full of ingredients, including a frozen turkey, instant mashed potatoes, a stuffing package, gravy mix, cans of corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, chocolate cake and frosting mixes, pie crust, a can of apple or cherry filling, a dozen eggs, and margarine.

In the moments before the doors opened, the Mabee Center gym crackled with activity. Dozens of volunteers bustled throughout the facility carrying supplies, organizing their assembly line, and stuffing grocery bags with ingredients. Della Lamb Executive Vice President Judy Akers took a brief break to describe for the Northeast News the work that goes into making Operation Thanksgiving a success. In addition to the last-second calls to grocery stores and organizations like Harvesters in the days leading up to the event, Operation Thanksgiving volunteers arrived in the early morning hours on November 22 to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the big day.

“It’s hundreds of volunteers hours to put it all together, and a fair share of staffing hours too,” said Akers.

Once the families start flooding into the building to acquire their Thanksgiving fixings, Akers said that all of the hard work is well worth it. She noted that it’s a great joy to see the grateful hearts of the individuals who are able to provide a traditional Thanksgiving meal for their families.

“We serve families of many languages, and maybe the only word that they can say is thank you,” said Akers. “You get that, and it really warms your heart that those families are going to experience a joyous holiday celebration.”

Part of what drives Akers to give back are memories from her own childhood. She described growing up poor, and how her family received help around the holidays from her local church. She still recalls how vital that assistance was for her family at the time, and how crucial that kind of help is for a person’s morale.

“364 days a year, it’s really hard,” Akers said. “They see this as such a blessing, because that’s one day of celebration, one day of joy. When you live in poverty, that hope of a miracle is all you have to hang on to.”