BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - Preparations are well underway for the Jimmie Hale Mission’s annual Thanksgiving meal in Birmingham. This is the organization’s 80th year serving Thanksgiving dinner to homebound seniors and people experiencing homelessness, and it’s expecting to serve 600 people this year.
“Food is a love language for us here in the south, and breaking bread with others is a way that we show the care that we have for each other,” Jimmie Hale Mission executive director Perryn Carroll said.
Turkeys have been roasting at the Jimmie Hale Mission 24 hours a day for the last week to get ready for the Thanksgiving feasts it will provide.
"We roasted 40 turkeys," Carroll said.
Beyond the turkey, the Jimmie Hale Mission says prep has taken over two weeks.
"We have candied yams. We have corn, green beans, dressing, mashed potatoes, a roll," she said. "A really full Thanksgiving dinner.”
Behind the scenes prep work takes weeks, but it also takes a lot of hands to make something like this happen.
"We do have our volunteer spots full for Thanksgiving, but on December 1st, we’ll start taking volunteers for Christmas,” said Carroll.
Carroll says on Thanksgiving Day, there will be 110 volunteers serving, from packing the dinner boxes to hand delivering the meals to those in need.
"This time of the year, we set aside time to give thanks and to show our gratitude and to really focus on all that we have and all that we have to be thankful for," she said. "We are a very giving community. Birmingham is a very caring community, and the people here do want to share and to give back to others.”
If preparing and serving 600 Thanksgiving meals wasn’t keeping the Jimmie Hale Mission busy enough, the incoming cold snap has them also preparing to shelter people from the weather.
"Right after Thanksgiving, we will clear our pretty decorations in our dining hall and our chapel and start setting up cots for the warming station,” Carroll said.
The Jimmie Hale Mission says the warming station is not funded and relies on community support.
"The monetary donations are the way that we can use donations most efficiently," Carroll said. "We prepare the meals in our kitchen because that’s much more economical than going out and buying meals for our guests.”
The Jimmie Hale Mission warming station will be open Friday evening through at least Sunday morning. The organization says it opens the warming center when temperatures reach 32 degrees or less overnight.
For more information on the Jimmie Hale Mission or to donate, click on the website HERE.