DES MOINES, Iowa — Rain or shine, the Parks Community Thanksgiving Dinner has provided free Thanksgiving meals to people in need for the past 40 years.
This year, organizer Bob Iverson is passing the torch to volunteer Hilary Whitfield who has 13 years of experience with the organization.
Iverson retired from his role last year after more than 30 years organizing the Thanksgiving tradition.
“I think Bob led us into a great position to start it, and I'm looking forward to filling his shoes,” Whitfield said.
In her new role, Whitfield will oversee more than 260 volunteers responsible for setting up, running the event itself and tearing it down.
“Every experience to get the meal out is one of a kind,” Whitfield said. “A volunteer that slices the pie, that's their experience. To someone who delivers the meals, that's an experience as well.”
Every year the meal distribution event is held at Chuck's Restaurant. Owner Emily Jones and her husband will also be taking on some more responsibility.
“We're cooking the turkeys,” Jones said. “We'll be in the kitchen the day of Thanksgiving.”
Between 2,000 and 3,000 meals in total will be served at the restaurant or through a delivery service.
“There's a lot of meals around Des Moines, but a lot of them are not delivered,” Jones said. “The only reason we are able to deliver is because of the amount of volunteers that show up.”
Whitfield is working to make sure that no one goes hungry on Thanksgiving.
“Even if you're not food insecure, there are things going on in your life that you just need a meal on that day, we're here to provide that,” Whitfield said.
Parks Community Thanksgiving Dinner has already reached capacity for meal deliveries. However, people can still get a free meal by dining in at Chuck’s Restaurant between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday.
The organization still needs volunteers to help clean up on Friday. To sign up, visit the organization’s Facebook.