Thanksgiving spirit shines at Lynn shelter

LYNN – The 400 turkeys had been distributed, cooked and carved, and the stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy that were on stove tops and in the ovens beginning Wednesday night had filled 200 stomachs. But at 4:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, the last volunteers at My Brother’s Table had a more immediate problem: a client needed a pair of shoes.”Is that better?” volunteer Damon Harrison asked Mary Fleur, as he taped up “shoes” constructed from cardboard and trash bags.”It’s better than the pavement,” Fleur responded.My Brother’s Table has provided a free, hot nutritious dinner for residents and visitors to Lynn since 1982. It is privately funded through individual donations of food and money, and fundraising drives and grants, and volunteers come each night to prepare and serve the meal.Interestingly, Thanksgiving is not one of the kitchen’s busiest days, according to My Brother’s Table Associate Director Mary Magner. But the tradition – as well as the effort to produce the traditional main course and all the fixins – makes it as big and an important day.And volunteers are integral to that effort.”It’s more than a day, it’s a whole event,” Magner said on Wednesday evening as a crew of volunteers arrived to begin the cooking. “We cook about 30 turkeys, but give away many more as part of the Lynn Hunger Network – this year we are giving 370 turkeys to other food pantries, schools and social service organizations ? we have turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, gravy from scratch, the mashed potatoes are really yummy – and that’s a technical term. Then pies, ice cream, carrots, squash and peas.”The kitchen certainly needs the assistance.Thursday after the doors were closed and the dishes scrubbed and put away, operations manager John Melanson said they had served 200 meals. Fifty more than last year.”As long as I know there’s a need, I’ll be there,” said Nancy Harrison, Damon Harrison’s sister. “It’s beautiful and wonderful to see people helping. It’s the giving, it’s a pleasure.”But the preparations for the holiday begin long before the Macy’s Parade marches down Fifth Avenue in New York City.My Brother’s Table this year received approximately 500 requests for turkeys from various social service and other organizations affiliated with the Lynn Hunger Network, according to Magner. She said that this was the highest number of requests she has seen in her 16 years at the kitchen.Thankfully, the effort to purchase those turkeys gets a little easier each year. Magner said that many people donate a turkey annually, and schools have also taken up the cause – Lynn English this year collected enough money to purchase 1,000 pounds of turkey for the kitchen.The turkeys are available for pickup the weekend before Thanksgiving, Magner said, and vary from “very small to very large.”The remainder of the turkeys are then either defrosted in preparation for Thanksgiving Day or kept to serve at Christmas – they give out sweaters at Christmas, Magner said.Then the preparations begin, and that requires a lot of volunteers. Volunteers from Sodexo food and facilities management also come the night before to begin the cooking and food preparations. Over the course of Thanksgiving Day, Magner said they bring in 40 volunteers at different times to prepare food, decorate the dining room, serve the food and wash the dishes.”I work full time and basically can only work on holidays,” said Brenda Lewin, a member of the My Brother’s Table Board and Swampscott resident. She brought her husband Richard and daughter Jamie to help this holiday. “This is my first time being the coordinator and I picked Thanksgiving ? but I thought ?why not,’ and we’ll eat dinner later. It’s just wonderful to help people and it’s wonderful to see the number of volunteers.”And those volunteers offer all kinds of help.Volunteer Jack Galpert, of Lynn, had a better idea as he watched Fleur’s shoes be constructed – he ran home and brought back an extra pair of shoes that his father h