Turkey Luncheon Provides 690 Meals and Receives $13,337 Gross for Western Horizons Improvements!

The West River Health Services Foundation again delighted their hometown with their always scrumptious 46th Annual "Community Turkey Luncheon" on Thursday, November 7. Six hundred and ninety meals were enjoyed this go round (with 469 meals delivered or picked up and 221 diners in the Hettinger Lutheran Church basement).

It all began with 24 turkeys cooked in 10 different locations and sliced up by 12 volunteer go-getters at Kennedy's on Monday night; 6 roasters of homemade dressing cooked up by longtime West River-ites Eve Safratowich and Jennifer Seamands Wednesday afternoon; 5 huge pots of Suzan Hanson's always tasty homemade gravy (deduced from all the 24 turkey bones the two nights preceding).

Whew! Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

Oh right, the event also brought in $13,337 from goodwill donations! It is almost as if the community coming together is more important than the dollars raised. Thank you, area community.

With the net proceeds (roughly $9,000) benefitting our Western Horizons Living Centers (Care Center and Assisted Living Center), we ought to see a few improvements soon. Plus, we are paying forward a $500 gift to Mother's Cupboard, for those community folk who need coats, boots, hats, or gloves for the upcoming winter season. And we are also paying forward a $150 gift to the Hettinger High School National Honor Society – as 13 of their student members helped us deliver meals, fill water and coffee pitchers, waitress tables, wash dishes and even serve meals.

Thank you, HHS and your advisor Krista Olson! We appreciate your enthusiasm.

Normally Kennedy's Fresh Foods, longtime partner of the WRHS Foundation, cooks all 24 of the turkeys in their huge ovens. Unfortunately, the ovens went down two days before we planned to cook them. However, Kyle Kennedy had the necessary connections with the Hettinger Country Club, West River Health Services Cafeteria, Pastime Steakhouse, Trinity Catholic Church, Jackie Muggerud, Christi Schmitz, Kathy Kennedy, and Tenille Guthrie -- before you knew it, we had 24 turkeys cooked and ready to slice and dice by Monday evening!

Kyle and Brad Messer delivered them all! This allowed our turkey bones to be deduced over a longer period, so Suzan Hanson was not rushed to get it done the night before until 3 am! Of course, once the turkey meat was cut and placed in 4" high tin pans, they went immediately into the walk-in freezer at Kennedy's, followed by the walk-in refrigerator the following two days. Plus, all of the dressing was also placed into 4" high pans and placed into the refrigerated cooler the afternoon before the event as well.

In addition, our workers washed their hands and wore gloves whenever handling food. We have never had a problem, nor do we want one. Therefore, we are taking every precaution to make sure our meal is tasty and safe! Turkey slicer and dicer Brenda Dragoo summed it up best, "I look forward to cutting turkeys with this group every year. It's good, fun people; and for our community."

And how 'bout the famous homemade pies? We witnessed 110 pies delivered from 53 home ovens! The Lutheran Church parking lot was super active. Wow! What a community! Can you believe it? We had all kinds of pie flavors ranging from pumpkin to banana cream to apple to pecan to peach to sour cream raisin to blueberry to cherry to chocolate to coconut cream to rhubarb and even cheesecake! Everyone had a first choice and second choice of pie slices (in case we did not have his or her first choice available). Of course, if you came to the Church, you just picked whatever flavor you wanted!

Our legendary Pie Room Volunteers (Molly Wolf, Beth Erickson, Dana Andress, Micky Rafferty, Cindy Vik, Leah Marty, Lisa Knutson, Barb Luger, and Cindy Del Olson) were awesome as usual, cutting them and placing them into clear to-go slice boxes by the hundreds (about 768 to be exact)! Thank you, Barb West, for bringing them all together once again! And for orchestrating the entire undertaking – efficient as always!

We would be wrong if we did not mention the Team behind the curtain on the stage, (wizards they are) – Christi Schmitz has been leading this to-go box team for many years, with her, Erin Timm, Tonya Jensen and Molly Wolf throwing together over 400 to-go boxes of delivered turkey delight. Thank you. We are grateful.

And delivery service? We had nine adults matched up with nine local high school students. The youth carried the delivery orders out to the adult's vehicle, jumped in, the adults cruised to the destination, and then the youth delivered the meals inside and received the goodwill donation. Within an hour and a half, they had all of their over 400 deliveries done! Amazing hustle by our adult/youth tandems! Thank you, adults Howard Nelson, Charlie Ahman, Wayne Koltes, Dave Muggerud, Kim Erickson, RaeAnn Were, Ben & Maureen Kautzman, and Bill Mollman (subbing for Dennis Knutson). We are so grateful. And what a terrific and fun way to engage with our youth!

And did you hear those three local businesses offered $10 for every 9th-12th grade student who signed up and showed up to the luncheon? They did! And 54 of 78 Hettinger High students signed up and showed up. At 12:03 pm, there was a huge buzz in the Hettinger Lutheran Church basement, as the 54 students descended. The Sophomore Class won the highest percentage of sign-ups and showups, with 16 of 18, so they will receive a free pizza and pop meal at Fossil Fuel very shortly. In addition, they will receive tokens to play video games there, too. The seniors finished second with 16 of 19 signing up and showing up. Close it was. The three businesses ended up giving $1,740 toward our Western Horizons Care Center (two rounded up to $600 each)! A good promotion it was!

Of course, overall, we had lots of volunteers from WRHS and the community – guessing about 135 or so! We had people who stepped up and decorated the church (thanks Lab Department and Hammontrees), wrote articles, developed posters (Cindy Ham), cooked the turkeys, created the dressing, made the gravy, baked the pies, cut the pies, packaged the pie slices, created the delivered meals, ran the food wherever needed, served the in-house meals (Board of Directors, students), helped in the kitchen (Cindy Rick Olson), waitressed the tables providing water and coffee (Lani Schultz, Barb Stadheim, and students), busing tables, accepting goodwill donations, greeting people, developing QR codes for online orders via credit card gifts (Josh Lacey), scrubbing pots (Molly Wolf), vacuuming, hauling garbage out (Charlie Hughes) – you name it, we had it! With volunteers making it happen!

Thank goodness for our WRHS Auxiliary, who started this event back in the late 1970s and continued to improve it throughout the years. Especially Mrs. Van Wyk and her group of dedicated believers. Of course, they did more than just a turkey luncheon. They sewed the first curtains and towels for Community Memorial Hospital back in 1950. They developed a membership and other events like the Perennial Plant Sale, selling Rada Cutlery, raffle tickets, and more to raise funds for scholarships and furniture needs at the hospital and clinics. We are forever indebted to the WRHS Auxiliary for their leadership when money was tight, and ingenuity was needed -- they raised it and provided it. Though they disbanded a few years ago, their legacy continues with the Auxiliary Legacy Scholarship every year from the Perennial Plant Sale.

Last, "thank you" area businesses and families who ordered meals, came to the church and picked up your meal, or sat down and ate it there! We cannot do this without you! And your goodwill donations. We are so grateful for our community's outpouring of love and giving for our healthcare system. This is not the first time -- and we are hoping it is not the last!

Until then, onward to improving our top-notch healthcare "close to home." Thank you. We are grateful. Ted Uecker, FDO



Meet the Pie Ladies: Cindy, Molly, Beth, and Barb. 🥧

Meet our dressing chefs, Jennifer and Eve.

Meet our 🦃Gravy Chef, Suzan.

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Tuesday, 11 February 2025