By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — At a time of year when families and friends gather to share Thanksgiving’s bounty, others gather to make sure no one in Westport misses out on the holiday’s abundance.

Numerous volunteers, members of nonprofit groups and even schoolchildren have worked, along with staffs at the town’s Department of Human Services and the Center for Senior Activities, to make possible hundreds of Thanksgiving dinners for senior and disabled residents. 

More than 200 Thanksgiving meals were served Tuesday at the senior center, and over 50 meals were to be delivered by volunteers to homebound seniors on Wednesday. The meals are paid for by state and federal funds, as well as private donations from organizations including the Westport Woman’s Club, which has helped pay for Thanksgiving meals for years, according to Elaine Daignault, the town’s human services director.

Some organizations supply ingredients for the meals, such as pies provided by the Temple Israel preschool, or staples from students at Coleytown Middle School for home-delivered meals. Coleytown Elementary School students made Thanksgiving greeting cards to accompany the Thanksgiving dinners to bring some holiday spirit to homebound residents.

“Anyone who needs a meal, can get a meal,” said Wendy Petty, director of the Center for Senior Activities, as she surveyed the busy center Tuesday. There were two seatings for Thanksgiving dinner that day at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. with 100 diners at each.

In the center’s kitchen, Chef Luis Sanchez was preparing a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, peas and pumpkin pie. “I like to make people happy and have them enjoy the meal,” he said.

The chef prepares lunch at the center every weekday for seniors who congregate there. The diners are asked to make a $5-$7 donation for lunch, but the amount is private, Daignault said, and all seniors are welcome regardless of ability to pay. The center’s lunches are popular and reservations are required.

“What’s unique about Westport is that we have an on-site chef,” Petty said. The chef’s time is paid for by Catholic Charities, a nonprofit agency that funnels state and federal funding to Westport for meal programs. The Board of Selectwomen on Nov. 8 approved renewal of a two-year agreement with Catholic Charities to fund for the center’s lunch program and home-delivered meals.

The selectwomen also approved an agreement for homebound seniors who did not meet income requirements and must pay for meals, and for the town to accept a $70,561 grant, some of which may be used for a car to help volunteers deliver meals.

Volunteers are the backbone of both the congregate lunch program at the senior center and home-delivered meals, Petty and Daignault agreed.

Anne Banks, a volunteer serving Thanksgiving meals, said she started volunteering at the senior center after the death of a close friend who was a frequent participant in the center’s activities and lunches.

“In her honor, I want to give back to the place,” Banks said. “I like practical ways of giving — anyone can write a check.”

For years, a large, everyone-is-welcome Thanksgiving meal was hosted by Saugatuck Congregational Church and as many as 300 people would enjoy a holiday meal together on Thanksgiving Day. “It was about community,” Daignault said.

But as years passed, it became harder to coordinate enough volunteers to prepare food and ensure that requirements for food-safety regulations were met, so the meals were catered, according to Daignault. When the pandemic struck, Thanksgiving meals were provided on a drive-through basis. The last year the Thanksgiving meal was served was 2021.

“Last year was the first year it was not done,” she said of the Saugatuck church community Thanksgiving feast. But other ways have been adopted to help those in need at the holidays, Daignault said, such as providing gift cards to purchase Thanksgiving meals.

One of four women enjoying Thanksgiving dinners together Tuesday at the Westport Center of Senior Activities was Vonnie Spies of Norwalk. “The volunteers are so helpful,” she said. “They make it such a nice place to be.”

Her tablemate, Susan Pike of Westport, agreed. “There’s a real feeling of community here,” she said. “It’s so warm and welcoming.”

For information about home-delivered meals or for reservations for lunch at the Westport Center for Senior Activities, call 203-341-1067. Lunch reservations can also be made online at the center’s website. Anyone needing help with food insecurity or to refer a client, can call the Westport Department of Human Services at 203-341-1050.

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Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.