Community feasts will celebrate Thanksgiving across the North Olympic Peninsula this week.
Some will be a little early. And, in a break with tradition, the Tri-Area Community Center feast in Chimacum now will ask for donations, although no one will be turned away who doesn’t pay.
The earliest feast on the Peninsula will be in Clallam Bay, where a free community Thanksgiving dinner is scheduled today. The meal will be at 5:30 p.m. at the Clallam Bay Presbyterian Church, 15 Eighth St. For more information, call Donna Keys at 963-2606.
Other dinners are planned the day before Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Eve, the Salvation Army in Port Angeles will serve a free community meal from noon to 2 p.m. at the soup kitchen building at 123 S. Peabody St. This year, the entree will be ham rather than turkey.
“We had a whole bunch of ham donated,” said Major Barbara Wehnau, who joined the Salvation Army in Port Angeles with her husband, Ron, in June.
Since the organization was “blessed with ham, we will have ham,” she said, along with mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit salad, vegetables, green salad and pie.
Last year, the Salvation Army fed 198 people at its Thanksgiving Eve feast.
Volunteers are welcome. For information, call 360-452-7679.
Also on Wednesday, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Port Townsend will host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the parish hall from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
St. Paul’s, which is at 1020 Jefferson St., usually offers its “Just Soup” lunch service on Wednesdays, but the full meal will replace the lunch service.
The whole community is invited.
For more information, phone the church office at 360-385-0770.
Here are meals planned on Thanksgiving Day:
PORT ANGELES
Community Dinner
PORT ANGELES — The ninth annual edition of a community Thanksgiving dinner will be offered at Queen of Angels Catholic Church on Thursday.
The free feast will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the gymnasium of the church at 209 W. 11th St.
Anyone who doesn’t want to cook or be alone is welcome, said Emilie Thornton, one of the organizers. It’s nondenominational and open to all — with their families, she said.
For people who need them, warm clothes — coats, hats and gloves — will be available.
The dinner will include a surprise visit from Santa, who will hand out gifts.
The free feast was begun in 2008 by three women, including Reath Elliotson, shortly after Elliotson was informed that her cancer had returned.
Nine years later, Elliotson — who won a 2015 Clallam County Community Service Award for organizing the community meal — is still working hard to create a welcoming place for any and all to go on Thanksgiving, Thornton said.
The gathering fed 1,182 people in 2015, Thornton said.
For more information or to get a ride or have assistance in seating, phone Thornton at 360-912-3934 or email talktoemilie@olypen.com.
SEQUIM
Thanksgiving dinner
SEQUIM — A traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner will be served at Trinity United Methodist Church at 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.
Reservations, which are required to ensure that enough food is prepared, can be made by phoning the church, which is at 100 S. Blake Ave., at 360-683-5367 between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. the Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday before the dinner or by email to dinnerstumc@aol.com.
The free dinner is part of Trinity’s community dinner program. Dinners normally are served on the last Thursday of each month, but because of other holiday season activities, there will be no dinner in December.
VFW hosts free meal
SEQUIM — The Sequim post of Veterans of Foreign Wars will host a free Thanksgiving dinner for veterans and active-duty military service personnel Thursday.
The dinner will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Post 4760, 169 E. Washington St., Sequim.
Sunshine Cafe
SEQUIM — The Sunshine Cafe will host its 14th annual Free Harvest Dinner on Thursday.
The meal will be offered from noon to 4 p.m. at the restaurant at 145 W. Washington St.
Reservations are suggested.
To make reservations or for more information, call the eatery at 360-683-4282.
Free meal
SEQUIM — Hardy’s Market will offer a free traditional Thanksgiving meal Thursday.
The complementary traditional meal will be offered while supplies last beginning at 11 a.m. at the market at 10200 Old Olympic Highway.
Meals can be dine-in or take-out, one per person.
Managers request that no one come early.
CHIMACUM
Tri-Area feast
CHIMACUM — A community feast is planned at the Tri-Area Community Center on Thanksgiving Day.
The meal will be served from noon to 3 p.m. at the center at 10 West Valley Road.
For the first year, a donation of $8.50 is requested — but it is not required.
“If people can’t pay, that’s fine,” said Pete Leenhouts, past president of the East Jefferson County Rotary Club, which, with Olympic Community Action Programs, is sponsoring the meal.
The donation “is barely enough to cover costs. It’s designed to give us a bare positive cash flow,” Leenhouts said.
“Nobody’s intent on making any money on this. We just want to make a good meal for the community.”
A turkey dinner will be offered with all the trimmings, with local farms donating food, he said.
The response from potential volunteers is so great that they are now being placed on a waiting list, Leenhouts said.
They will work in shifts Thursday — from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., from 1:15 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 2:45 p.m. to as along as it takes to clean up the community center. During the meal, a team of volunteers will deliver meals via car to shut-ins.
Volunteers are needed Wednesday to pack meals for shut-ins, Leenhouts said. They will be needed from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tri-Area Community Center and must have food handlers’ licenses. To get a food worker card, go to http://tinyurl.com/PDN-foodworkercard.
The online course takes about 40 minutes and includes a test, Leenhouts said, adding that the cost is $10 and the card is valid for two years.
When the test is passed, the state will email the card to the person, who then must bring a printed copy to the community center to be posted in the kitchen during the meal.
FORKS
Churches in Forks
FORKS — The Feeding of the 5,000 group, in collaboration with Forks-area churches, will provide a traditional Thanksgiving dinner from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.
The meal will be at the Forks Community Center, 91 Maple Ave.
Dinner is free, but donations will be accepted.
Forks churches will donate the food, said Laura LaFrenz, an organizer.
“We’ll have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, salads, appetizers and lots of varied pies,” she said.
Last year, the group fed between 120 and 140 people, she added.
For more information, phone LaFrenz at 360-374-4093.
