‘I enjoy helping the community:’ Delta County Community Thanksgiving Dinner gives people a place to eat

ESCANABA, Mich. (WLUC) - On Thursday, Delta County community members made sure no one ate their Thanksgiving meal alone.

The Delta County Community Thanksgiving dinner had close to 130 people eating at the Escanaba High School gym. Head Director Dennis LaMarch said this annual free dinner is solving more needs than one.

“People that are going through that can’t find a restaurant open they will stop in and have lunch with us and so it really about getting people in the community together although we do have a lot of takeouts,” LaMarch said. “We no longer do delivery, but we do have a lot of folks that will take their meals and take them home.”

LaMarch said this year, the attendees had the option to either dine in or call ahead to pick up food. Another Volunteer Dennis Ford said he decided to donate his time because helping the community is what being a Yooper is all about.

“I enjoy helping the community and making sure folk got a place to be and not at home by themselves and we got a place to come out here visit and meet new people,” Ford said.

Volunteers said this meal is also in memory of Kambria Grenfell, a young girl who passed away from brain cancer in 2021.

Ford said 125 volunteers helped out and served nearly 600 meals.

Volunteer Director Shannon Tayor said all attendees got fed on time or not.

“There are folks whose last-minute plans fall through, and they still need a meal, they can come in and take as many meals as they want,” Taylor said.

Taylor said Delta County businesses donated all the food.

Taylor also said she wanted to thank all the volunteers for making this meal possible.