TURKEY112207

Not all turkeys will be eaten at home

Jennifer Simonson, Star Tribune

New Hope resident Rosie Stiyer cut the plastic cooking bag off a turkey that she and her husband will donate to Sharing and Caring Hands.

Across the Twin Cities, church members helped to cook up the Thanksgiving feast for 700 to 800 people at Sharing and Caring Hands.

By Mary Lynn Smith, Star Tribune

Last update: November 21, 2007 - 7:34 PM

Rosie Stiyer pulled the 20-pound bird out of the oven Wednesday, but not one drumstick or slice of turkey went to feed her family.

Instead, like more than 100 other families from St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Plymouth, she carved it up and shipped it out to be served for the Thanksgiving feast today at Sharing and Caring Hands in downtown Minneapolis.

"I just think it's beautiful," said the mission's founder, Mary Jo Copeland. The church has donated turkeys for 22 years. "We have a lot of beautiful things going on in our world."

While church members in Plymouth roasted turkeys, members of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hastings baked 125 pumpkin, apple, cherry and raspberry pies for today's dinner that will serve 700 to 800 people, including senior citizens and families living in poverty.

"They are people who have nowhere to go and can't afford to cook," Copeland said.

So people like the Stiyers volunteer to help. "We're very fortunate we don't have to worry about where we are going to get our food," said Stiyer as she sliced the turkey for today's mission dinner. "It's too bad we live in a society where people don't have enough food."

It's not just at Thanksgiving

She and her husband, Norvin, also are among 45 volunteers from the church who often provide and serve lunch every fourth Thursday at the mission. Volunteers cook up pots of chili, assemble ham-and-cheese sandwiches and round it off with coleslaw and chocolate-chip cookies.

Steve Reckers, who coordinated the turkey donation from St. Mary of the Lake, said his church members out-did themselves this year, preparing more than 110 turkeys. That's up from 75 to 80 turkeys two years ago and about 90 turkeys last year, he said.

Reckers said six to seven volunteers will load up vans, pickup trucks and station wagons with the turkeys (and their juices, which will be cooked into gravy at the mission) and make the trek today to Sharing and Caring Hands. Some will make the trip twice to get all the turkeys delivered, Reckers said.

Then the volunteers will go home and put their own turkeys in the oven. But most of them will already feel quite content, Reckers said:

"You have a good feeling that you've helped someone in a small way."

Mary Lynn Smith • 612-673-4788

Mary Lynn Smith • mlsmith@startribune.com