PLATTSBURGH — The Annual Recovery Community Thanksgiving Day dinner at the MHAB Life Skills Campus anticipates feeding over 3,000 people this year.
The MHAB Life Skills campus will once again host the community for its seventh annual dinner, in collaboration with the Champlain Valley Family Center, Youth Advocate Programs, Behavioral Health Services North, National Alliance on Mental Illness — Champlain Valley, and United Way of the Adirondacks.
Volunteers have been busy in the MHAB kitchen preparing turkeys since Sunday morning, said Dennis King, Clinton County director of the Youth Advocate Program. The team will be prepping until the morning before the event.
“We have about 600 deliveries scheduled so far, but the calls are still coming in,” he said. “Once again, I am overwhelmed by the support and dedication from our community.”
King is expecting over 100 volunteers Thursday.
The event was started by King and MHAB President Mike Carpenter in 2019. The first sit-down dinner fed 87 people. Last year, the team cooked more turkeys than there were people at that first meal.
“When we first started this, we didn’t know what it would become. We wanted to feed the vulnerable, and it became a community event,” Carpenter said. “For us, it’s all about the community.”
The goal of the event, according to Carpenter, is to provide a warm, traditional Thanksgiving meal to anyone who needs it.
In 2024, the dinner fed over 2,000 people, including 1,200 deliveries in Clinton County and 60 in Essex. This year, King anticipates feeding over twice that at the dinner and through deliveries.
“I am anticipating 3,000 people this year due to the economy and the government shutdown affecting a large portion of our county,” he said, believing the government shutdown and stalled benefits will have an impact on the event’s turnout.
“I believe it will have a big impact, especially here in Clinton County.”
King said his favorite aspect of the dinner is the community coming together.
“My favorite aspect is the coming together of all walks of life to show everyone that Clinton County, as a whole, cares and you are not alone,” he said.
The sit-down dinner is scheduled for Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the MHAB life skills campus at 14 Dormitory Dr., Plattsburgh. Deliveries will be made from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and pick-up orders from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wednesday at 5 p.m. is the last day to make delivery or pick-up reservations.
For more information, visit facebook.com/MHABPlattsburgh/