Shelter Feeds 97 for Thanksgiving

Woodbridge, Va. — It’s Thanksgiving morning and 20 volunteers crammed a small kitchen in Woodbridge.

“Hand me a Crock Pot, that one over there,” a woman exclaims.

“Is there a bigger one?” one man asked.

“Here, use this one and take it out to the dining room,” another said.

In a kitchen so small, about the size of a large bedroom in a town home, at the Volunteers of America Chesapeake Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center, volunteers are working tirelessly to cook a Thanksgiving feast for some of the neediest residents in the Potomac Communities.

This Thanksgiving, the shelter on U.S. 1 has 11 adults and 14 children who call it a temporary home, with nine of the children under age three.

The dinner, an annual tradition, will be more than enough to feed them but it will also feed the volunteers and their families, as well as anyone else who may be hungry this day – food for up to 100 people, organizers said.

“I’m here because I want my daughter to know that she is blessed and we love helping people,” said Dawn Young, of Lake Ridge. A first-time volunteer at the Woodbridge shelter, she brought her 11-year-old daughter, Tyler, to help.

As Tyler was mixing the mashed potatoes, others were cooking three of the five turkeys that were going to be eaten. Sitting in the dining room was ham, sides and deserts, as well as a cardboard cutout of President Obama, whom residents here say is “always invited to dinner.”

Organizers said 97 people showed up for dinner Thursday. They ate about 1 p.m.

A staple of the shelter, a man who simply goes by J.D., once lived in a tent in the woods before he moved into the shelter three years ago, and now lives in a basement apartment he rents in Woodbridge.

He credits the shelter for not only providing him with a hot meal today, but with saving his life.

“I turn 56 this Sunday. The doctor said I was going to live to see 54,” he said.

After years of drinking, smoking and living in the elements, J.D. was given just months to live. His health and outlook changed after he moved into the shelter.

“These are good people around here, and they saved my life and I’ll always be thankful for that,” he said.