A small battalion of people in hairnets stood behind a counter at the Little Rock Compassion Center, ready to serve the first meal of Thanksgiving.
In a downstairs room at the homeless shelter, a few dozen others formed a winding line, getting ready to receive trays of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans and corn. Manning the dessert table, volunteer Harold Settle would soon mark cheesecake as the most popular offering, though coconut cream pie had been the first to run out.
"If we hadn't eaten so many of them, there'd probably be some left," he joked.
The meal was one of several holiday celebrations for the less fortunate across Little Rock, where volunteers came together to provide Thanksgiving mainstays to appreciative audiences.
Gina Schmeusser had driven in from Houston to join her mom and stepdad, who had signed up to volunteer with their church group at the shelter. Assigned to cleanup crew, Schmeusser said she hadn't had a chance to do much of anything yet, but she was looking forward to hearing about her mom's first-ever volunteering experience.
"I'm really excited that she's getting to do this. I think she'll get a lot out of it," Schmeusser said.
Pastor Bobby Howard of First Church of the Nazarene in Little Rock said he had provided two crews of about 15 people to work at the shelter Thursday, hoping to "not just come to church, but be the church ... it makes us outward focused," he said. He noted that there would be plenty of time for the volunteers to be with their families later in the day.
As lunch was served, volunteers moved among round tables decorated with placemats, which were covered in handwritten Thanksgiving greetings. Diners soon filled almost every seat.
Tucking in at one table of six men, Gary Smith said he usually goes to the Thanksgiving lunch served at the Salvation Army but had tried the shelter this year. "It's better than I thought it would be," he said of his full plate, offering high marks to the turkey and dressing.
Across the room, a woman in a pink jacket praised her chocolate pie, which had been made with whipped cream, but also gave a thumbs-up to the turkey.
In an earlier interview, William Holloway, the Compassion Center's pastor, said more than 1,000 meals would be served or distributed Thursday, an operation headed by a cook who honed his craft in the Army. This is the 20th year of the shelter's celebration.
"We started out by just feeding people and the first thing I knew, it got to this size. I don't know any other way to put it," he said.
The long holiday weekend, he said, can be particularly hard on people who live in poverty when workplaces close and they don't get paid for a few days. In addition to serving hot lunch and dinner, shelter workers also passed out boxes for people who have a home, but can't afford food, or just have trouble getting out to shop or cook.
"We try to put a small turkey in there, or a couple of chickens, with enough meals to hold them over the weekend," he said.
Earlier Thursday, volunteers busily arranged pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and even a few slices of fruitcake on a dessert table in a dining room at the Salvation Army's office on West Markham Street.
In recent years, the Christian charitable group's holiday meals have seen growing attendance among older adults, who may not have somewhere else to go, said development director William Tollett. Though the Thanksgiving meal has been served in Arkansas for the past 126 years, many volunteers Thursday said it was their first time.
"I'm here just because it's a day of giving," said University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences junior Megan Wickliffe, who had arrived with her mother for their first year volunteering at the luncheon. "It's just nice to be nice."
Her mother also made a banana dessert to contribute to the spread, which Wickliffe assured a reporter was really quite good.
Wearing a red shirt that matched those worn by other members from his church group, the Body of Christ Worship Center, Stanley Spates said the party of "at least 10 deep" also was working the luncheon for the first time. He framed their attendance as part of an outreach ministry, and said they were hoping to reach people who might not typically find their way inside a church's four walls.
Towering over the group in a neat black uniform, Salvation Army Capt. Jay Spalding led a prayer and offered some final instructions to volunteers as the doors opened. "Take [them] their drinks, and make them feel welcome -- it's just that easy," he said.
Soon diners lined the tables covered with orange and yellow tablecloths. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade played on a TV as volunteers delivered plates stacked with turkey, rolls, green beans, sweet potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce, offerings that were mostly endorsed by diners.
"It tastes good, as if it were at home," said Clemite Dedmon, who has attended the luncheon four times and said he once had an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette paper route. He took a inquiring bite of a dessert and identified it as Italian cream cake, declaring it good.
Nearby, a young man who declined to be named had hardly touched his plate. "I'm trying to save my appetite to go to my granny's house to eat," he explained, saying he looks forward to her broccoli cheese casserole.
As he ate with his wife and nephew, Leroy Oakley said, "This lunch is fabulous. Everything is just great."
Oakley said he has a long relationship with the Salvation Army, having worked as a bell-ringer during many holiday seasons. After Thursday's meal, he planned to check out another one the family heard about downtown, though not because he was dissatisfied with what he'd eaten so far.
"I am in love with the dressing," he said. "They got it just right."
Metro on 11/23/2018