A Thanksgiving Feast for the Soul

The sign on the refrigerator door announced the date and time of the turkey dinner that would be coming. The family had been looking at it for weeks, just counting the days.

The family is comprised of the 17 residents and the staff of a personal care home on California Avenue on the North Side. At noon today, volunteers from the Light of Life Rescue Mission, also on the North Side, pulled up outside the home and carried in the makings of a feast.

From the small kitchen, the four volunteers and two staff members plated up stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes and turkey which, from all indications, was absolutely dewey with juiciness.

This is the 15th year the mission has served Thanksgiving dinner to the home. Patient care worker Robin Johnson said the residents always look forward to the meal and ask about it often.

"They look at that sign on the refrigerator, and they know it's coming," said Johnson. "They've been asking all week."

Johnson says the holidays can be especially difficult at the home. Of the 17 residents, "maybe three" receive visits from family members. Still the members of the group have knitted together their own kind of family, gathering in the living room to watch television after enjoying pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

 "You are a breath of fresh air for all these people," Johnson told the volunteers as they cleaned the kitchen afterward.