Volunteer Rodney Bratcher wheels a cart of cooked turkeys through a preparation room, on Nov. 27, 2024, at St. George Cathedral Church in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. The volunteers were preparing for the annual Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner.
Volunteers separate about 500 cans of cranberry sauce into individual plastic dishes on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, at St. George Cathedral Church in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. The volunteers were preparing for the annual Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner. From left are: Dennis Sponagle, Nikkii Herner, Diane Mitchell, Laura Radcliff, Nick Rinehart and Megan Russell.
Volunteer Rodney Bratcher wheels a cart of cooked turkeys through a preparation room, on Nov. 27, 2024, at St. George Cathedral Church in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. The volunteers were preparing for the annual Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner.
CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE | Gazette-Mail
A Thanksgiving tradition born in 1966 lives on, as an army of 180 volunteers prepares to cook, serve and deliver free Thanksgiving dinners for 2,000 people in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on Thursday, thanks to the enduring generosity of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä hotelier Frank Veltri.
Starting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, volunteers will begin delivering between 1,500 and 1,700 Thanksgiving dinners to seniors living in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä-Kanawha Housing’s high-rise apartment buildings and low-rise family apartments and condo units.
From 12:30 to 2 p.m., St. George Orthodox Cathedral will host an estimated 300 sit-down diners.
From 1 to 2 p.m., takeout Thanksgiving dinners will be given out at the church.
Any prepared food that is left over will be donated to area shelters.
Veltri, the annual dinner’s founder and namesake, grew up in the rough and tumble world of pool halls and night clubs — some of which he would come to operate — in downtown ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. He eventually acquired a series of aging urban properties, including the former Holley and Worthy residential hotels on Quarrier Street.
Though he was a landlord in a tough neighborhood, Veltri had a gentle side: He genuinely cared for the often down-and-out people who occupied his low-rent lodgings.
Starting in 1966, Veltri began an annual tradition of serving a free Thanksgiving dinner to ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä’s most vulnerable residents, featuring compassion and quality food, including stuffing and mashed potatoes prepared from his personal recipes.
Veltri died in 2001, but he made sure his Thanksgiving dinner tradition continued by leaving behind the Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner Endowment Fund, managed by the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation.
For the past 20 years, the nonprofit Kanawha Valley Collective has been responsible for planning and staging the annual dinner. Funds from the endowment are used to buy food and supplies, while food preparation, serving and delivery is all done by volunteers. This year, all 180 volunteer positions for the dinner had been filled by Nov. 18.
“It’s a loyal group,†said Cynthia Parsons with the Kanawha Valley Foundation. “Some of the volunteers have doing this for more than 40 years — since Frankie’s day. Others have made it a family tradition — working at the church in the morning and then going home to have their own Thanksgiving dinners.â€
Volunteers separate about 500 cans of cranberry sauce into individual plastic dishes on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, at St. George Cathedral Church in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. The volunteers were preparing for the annual Frank Veltri Thanksgiving Dinner. From left are: Dennis Sponagle, Nikkii Herner, Diane Mitchell, Laura Radcliff, Nick Rinehart and Megan Russell.
CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE | Gazette-Mail
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