Church to serve 1,500 Thanksgiving meals

Volunteers will be collecting food from seven local Publix stores - and they expect to feed upwards of 1,500 people.

By comparison, when they started 11 years ago, they fed 250 people, said organizer Fred Glass.

Parishioners at St. Frances Cabrini will begin smoking, deep-frying and baking their turkeys today. Glass estimated there would be between 75 and 80 cooked turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner.

"Eleven years we've been doing it," he said. "We almost know what we're doing."

In addition to the turkey, volunteers will deliver mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, stuffing, gravy, rolls, butter and dessert.

Cranberry and apple sauce will be available only to those 300-350 people dining at Xavier Hall, located next to the church.

The in-house dinner will be served at 2 p.m.

The deliveries, which will be throughout Hernando County and will include parts of Pasco County, will begin at 11:30 a.m. All of the deliveries are expected to be out the door by 1 p.m., Glass said.

There will be nearly 400 volunteers, most of whom will be delivering food.

Workers will pick up the food at the local Publix stores after they close - either at 9 or 10 p.m. depending on the store. The last of the food is expected to be delivered and prepped by 1 a.m. Thursday.

Volunteers will go home and return hours later to finish prepping and to portion each individual plate, Glass said.

Additionally, 300 turkey sandwiches will be delivered to Tent City in Pinellas County.

Glass hopes to incorporate more churches and volunteers next year, he said.