Volunteers spend Thanksgiving serving others in need

PEORIA (25News Now) - Ready, set, give.

While many people spent Thanksgiving day eating, volunteers at Peoria’s South Side Mission spent their day giving.

South Side Mission is one of many groups that ensured people had a Thanksgiving meal regardless of their financial or family situation.

It was the 52nd annual Thanksgiving meal.

The volunteers started their day by hand delivering almost 3,000 meals to people at home who signed up in advance. Then, they prepared sit-down meals where anyone could show up for a warm plate of food and to converse with neighbors.

Craig Williams, South Side Mission’s Executive Director, says there’s nowhere else he’d rather spend his Thanksgiving morning.

“I love to give it up. I feel like I’m giving into something, not giving up something,” Williams said.

Several volunteers in and around Peoria have spent numerous Thanksgiving mornings preparing food for others.

The newly appointed chef of the operation, Kevin Dearing, has been volunteering at this event for 15 years.

Dearing lives in Canton but drove to Peoria to start prepping food for thousands of people to enjoy on Tuesday.

“I mean, it’s a good feeling because I know I’m helping people that need help or just need a warm plate of food, and I know it means a lot to them, so it just makes you feel good,” Dearing said.

Dearing prepared turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and other vegetables.

The South Side Mission received food donations from several donors and bought some of it themselves.

Sara Shinn also volunteered on Thursday morning. She says she would be spending Thanksgiving alone if she wasn’t volunteering. So she looked for a place to volunteer during the holiday and said the South Side Mission was perfect.

“It gives you an attitude of gratitude, and to bring your cheerfulness and your love for the lord, and what he’s done in your life, and to share that kind of joy,” Shinn said.

Shinn adds she hopes to come back every year.

And for the 52 years that volunteers have dedicated their day, the people who have nowhere else to spend it say they’re thankful.

“I thank god that they do this because it helps a whole lot of people, it really does, and that’s why I come. I don’t have anything else I can give, but I can show up and be pretty,” Peoria Resident Harold G. Clayton said.