Brainerd American Legion Preparing Annual Thanksgiving Community Meal

The American Legion in Brainerd is hosting its annual Thanksgiving community meal event, where first responders will be volunteering their time to help deliver the meals for the holiday.

Although nearly eight inches of snow came down in Brainerd on Tuesday, volunteers throughout the area gathered Wednesday morning to give back to their community. Preparations began Monday morning and continued through Wednesday evening at the Legion.

“We have 102 turkeys that we’re cooking,” said Thanksgiving Community Meal Chair Janelle Lacy. “We split it between Monday, Tuesday, cool ’em down, everybody’s out slicing today. Once that gets all done, we put them back in the cooler. Tonight, we come in, prep all the cranberries and the coleslaw, and anything that’s cold that can go in the Styrofoams. And then those go in the cooler, and tomorrow morning, I get here about 3:30, and I get the turkeys cooking again and get them heated up.”

More than 1,600 free meals are being prepared for the Brainerd Lakes Area community. Once dawn breaks on Thanksgiving, volunteers, including police officers, firefighters, and many others, will either help hand out or deliver the goods.

“Usually around 8:30 in the morning, we start hearing the building rumble,” Lacy said. “It really feels good. You hear all these big rigs coming in, all of the fire department with their big trucks, and it just rumbles the whole street. It’s just the kickoff at Thanksgiving—it’s awesome.”

At 9 a.m., the first responders will start busing the meals to the public in their respective emergency vehicles. And at 11 a.m., those who have placed an order can stop by for pickup.

“We do the high-rise, or the larger building there in Crosby,” Brainerd VFW Post 1647 Past Commander Dave Meyer elaborated. “We’ve got some volunteers and then the fire department and that. High-rise here and group homes and stuff will have larger orders going out, but then a lot of them go just two or three to a lot of individuals that have signed up.”

The Brainerd VFW, Brainerd Elks Lodge, and Brainerd Eagles are all helping the American Legion put the Thanksgiving community meal together, and many have been volunteering to help make the event a success for several years. For them, the best part about it is the camaraderie built among peers while putting the feasts together.

“It’s great, just the camaraderie-ship and seeing everyone work together is the best thing about it,” Meyer said. “We never have a problem getting enough volunteers.”

“Everybody comes together.” Lacy added. “Everybody’s happy, in a good mood. The donations are phenomenal from the community. It’s great.”