Lexi Moutafakis, a second-year University of Virginia student, is delivering a massive Thanksgiving dinner that will feed some 40 members of On Our Own, a support organization off West Main Street for people with mental health or substance abuse challenges.
“Thank you,” says Elizabeth Bouldin-Clopton, On Our Own’s associate director. “Everyone’s been looking forward to this. We’re going to have a feast. That’s what everyone’s been calling it — The Feast.”
“Oh,” Moutafakis smiles. “We love you guys.”
Moutafakis is among the UVa students who volunteer with Campus Kitchen, a group that cooks meals from unused portions from the university’s dining halls and provides the meals to Charlottesville-area families and individuals in need.
For this Thanksgiving, the students launched a massive effort called “Turkeypalooza” to collect food and cash contributions from across UVa to provide a full Thanksgiving meal to their recipients.
Students donated pies and dozens of cans of corn, green beans and cranberries. Other chipped in cash, which helped the Campus Kitchen volunteers buy turkeys, bags of stuffing mix and other essentials. The Local Food Hub contributed potatoes, squash and broccoli. Another student group, Up Till Dawn, which normally raises money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, gave rolls and buns. UVa’s dining staff contributed ham and pans of gravy.
“I’m really excited about how many donations we got,” said Atlee Webber, a UVa student and one of Campus Kitchen’s coordinators. “And I’m excited that we were able to raise enough money to cover our expenses.”
The students prepared the meals earlier this week at UVa’s Runk dining hall and delivered them to On Our Own and to Hope House, a transitional housing apartment building for four families seeking to emerge from homelessness.
On Tuesday, the UVa students delivered make-your-own Thanksgiving dinner boxes to the four Hope House families. Included in the box was a fresh turkey breast, stuffing mix, homemade mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pie with whipped cream, canned corn, fresh broccoli and green bean casserole.
For On Our Own, the students delivered two turkeys, trays of mashed potatoes, three pans of stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato puree and much more.
The recipients will heat up their Thanksgiving feasts from Campus Kitchen today.
On Our Own is planning a communal dinner today, at which the organization’s members will gather and offer their support to one another.
“This place truly is our family,” Bouldin-Clopton said. “Especially for the holidays.”
Josh Windley, executive chef of Runk, who works with the UVa student volunteers, said he was impressed with Campus Kitchen’s campus-wide effort to give others a reason to give thanks.
“These girls have really been doing a great job trying to feed the need,” he said.
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