Kathe Hackett debones turkeys for the annual Thanksgiving meal distribution at the American Rescue Workers in Williamsport. Chef Jennifer Gregory said she and the staff there have made between 70 turkeys this year because the ARW expects to distribute over 700 meals Thanksgiving day this year. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Because of the generosity of the community, up to 700 meals will be prepared and given out by the American Rescue Workers (ARW) on Thanksgiving Day for anyone who wants a home-cooked meal for themselves and their family. The meal will be distributed to the public from noon to 3 p.m. at the loading dock at the Elmira Street location. There was not registration needed and anyone may come for a meal.

The kitchen at ARW has been busy for weeks cooking the 70 turkeys needed to feed the people they are expecting to drive up for a meal Thursday.

“We started preparing on Nov. 14 or maybe a day of two before that,” said Jennifer Rempe, director of development and community engagement.

“We started roasting them on the 19th and we roasted about 12 turkeys per day,” she said.

Last year, the chef prepared 60 turkeys which served about 625 people.

In addition to the turkeys, 17 pans of stuffing and 15 green bean casseroles are being created to feed the expected crowd.

The meal includes everything that has come to be expected for a homestyle Thanksgiving meal-roast turkey; gravy, which is homemade; stuffing; green bean casserole; buttered steamed corn; cranberry sauce; bread and butter; desserts, such as pies and cake; and a beverage that has been donated.

“The majority of our desserts are homemade. We have two volunteers that do it every year,” Rempe noted. Other desserts are either donated from businesses or are made in house at ARW.

“We have volunteers in here today to pull the turkey off the bones.” Rempe said on Monday.

“It will go into pans, so that all we have to do on Thursday is heat everything up,” she added.

The meals are served hot.

About 21 volunteers are expected on Thanksgiving to prep, serve and clean up after the meal. Almost all of the volunteers will be there all day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until the work is done, Rempe noted.

“All the volunteers will help serve the food. In the morning they cut the desserts and put them in the containers; put the roll and butter in baggies. We’ll be washing dishes and pots and pans as we go along. There will be packers who pack the meals into the bags, into the styrofoam containers. Then we have several volunteers who will be assigned as transporters to get the food in the styrofoam containers out to the loading dock, the baling room, to go on carts. We take about 20 to 25 meals out at a time and start handing them out to each of the cars,” she said. People can request a meal for every member of their family.

Volunteers will also deliver dinners to people who have called ahead and indicated that they are unable to come to ARW to pick up a meal.

“It’s quite an operation,” Rempe said.

Up until a little over a week ago, it was uncertain if Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would be reinstated before the holiday, with local food banks and pantries seeing an upsurge in clientele. Rempe indicated that ARW has seen a leveling off of the numbers at their food pantry, although they did pick up a few new families since the SNAP crisis.

“Our average number is up just a little bit now…The numbers last week leveled out, with just a slight increase,” Rempe said.

“What we think has happened is some new people have found us as a new resource and that’s okay. So, if on an average day we were serving 100 families-sometimes lower, sometimes a little higher-our average is now 110, 115 or something like that,” she said.

She admitted that might influence the numbers for Thanksgiving, but that they’re confident that they will have enough food for everybody they are preparing for.

The easiest way to access the meals is by turning onto Elmira Street from Park Avenue and then picking the food up at the loading dock and then exiting onto High Street.

“Our volunteers are really the heart of this,” she said, sharing that volunteers have been in all week, preparing.

“It’s a lot of homemade stuff. Some of it is coming from a box, but a lot is homemade stuff. We really try to make it feel and taste authentic,” she said.