By Alan Sorensen
Havres 18th annual community Thanksgiving Day dinner is on again, with a new ramrod and a new anonymous benefactor.
Both are hoping that the dinner that has brightened so many lives over the last 17 years will remain unchanged and run as smoothly as ever.
Linda Rennick stepped forward a few hours after the story of Kelly Stewarts retirement as the lead volunteer for the dinner was announced in The Daily News Friday to offer her time and expertise.
The new donor, who will pay all costs for the dinner, also came forward Friday. He said he had just one requirement and one hope for the dinner: It must remain at the St. Jude Social Hall, and be as successful as previous years.
Rennick met with Stewart Monday and went on a short tour of the St. Jude Social Hall kitchen. Stewart also gave Rennick some lists of past volunteers.
Rennick said this morning that she would visit the kitchen today to find out where all the kitchenware is. She planned to visit Gary and Leos IGA, too, to discuss the turkeys, pumpkin pies, and other fare.
Rennicks primary concern is that there is enough food and that no one has to be turned away hungry. Her second biggest worry is that there will be sufficient help to get everything done.
I used to be in the business Rennick said. I miss it sometimes, and this is one of the community service things I would be interested in.
Rennick hopes everyone who has helped in the past is still available to lend a hand this year. She said shes worried, though, that volunteers who saw the article in Fridays paper may already have made other plans for Thanksgiving.
At the same time, she welcomes new volunteers who want to help make the meal that has served between 500 and 800 people in past years a success this year.
If people want to pour coffee, you just have to take them because people do what they can, Rennick said. Thats the whole point of the community dinner, that the whole community is there.
Rennick expects that home deliveries will still go out before noon on Thanksgiving and that the sit-down meal in the social hall will run from noon to 3 p.m.
Rennick said she welcomes calls from people who would like to help or who have questions about the Thanksgiving Day dinner. Her telephone number is 265-1488.
More information about the dinner will be reported as it becomes available.
