CHARLESTON, W.Va. – For nearly 60 years, the Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner has provided a meal for Charleston’s most vulnerable residents, and this year will be no different.
The dinner brings the holiday spirit to thousands of seniors and others in need around the city thanks to Veltri, the self-made Charleston entrepreneur who first organized it in 1966. After Veltri died in 2001, he left an endowment to continue the dinner, managed by the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation.
“Volunteers will prepare roughly 2,200 meals for the seniors living in the high rises and the low rises. Our delivery volunteers will deliver 1,500-1,700 meals with about 550 eat-in,” volunteer lead Candice Arthur said.
In addition to the copious amounts of turkey and ham being served over the next three days, volunteers are preparing 60 pounds of sausage, 92 trays of stuffing, 27 bags of celery, 310 pounds of mashed potatoes, 106 pounds of gravy, 865 pounds each of green beans and corn, 370 pounds of cranberry sauce, 2,300 dinner rolls, and 300 pies.
With the dinner continuing to impact the city over the decades, more and more people want to get involved each year. Arthur has been involved with the dinner since 2018 and is one of numerous veteran volunteers who return to help each year.
“People definitely love this dinner. Once they work it once, they want to come back every year and volunteer. This year we did things a little different. We opened up to our previous volunteers first, and they were gung-ho with trying to hurry up and try to make sure that they got their slots filled in,” she said.
The dinner operates out of Saint George Cathedral in downtown Charleston this year, as it has since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Arthur, the combination of central location and kitchen space makes it the perfect place.
She has a simple reason for why she comes back each year.
“I personally want to see everybody fed, so to know that we are able to feed 2,200 people on one day, it fills your heart,” she said.
It isn’t lost on the organizers that 59 years of the Frank Veltri dinner means 59 years of people in need. While it may be hard to see people in need each year, the annual support goes a long way too.
“Our community needs help, and it needs people who are willing to help others, but it also tells me that there is a great need to want to help others,” Arthur said.
The 59th Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner begins with volunteers hitting the streets with delivery meals at 9am on Thursday and the sit-down meal at Saint George Cathedral beginning at 12:30pm.