Racine community comes together for free Thanksgiving dinner serving 3,000

NOW: Racine community comes together for free Thanksgiving dinner serving 3,000

Updated: 4:17 p.m. November 22, 2018

RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- It's turned into a Thanksgiving tradition in Racine -- the community comes together for a free Thanksgiving dinner. 

The event started nine years ago. The first year, 700 people showed up and this year, 3,000 were expected to show up. 

Organizers cooked 134 turkeys, 45 hams, and 400 pounds of mashed potatoes. Over the years, the community has made generous donations to fund the Thanksgiving day meal. it was started by Dan Johnson of Danny's Meats and Ray Stibeck of Route 20 Outhouse Bar and Restaurant. 

"The community really stepped up and supports this event. Basically, we involve our time and lot of the organization is putting the event together. It's all put on by the community for the community," said Johnson.

"Everybody here is o nice and it's such a sense of community, which you don't feel a lot of the times. Everybody, you get to know people that you probably never would have met before and you share stories and it's just awesome," said Elizabeth Davis who attended the event. 

Three hundred volunteers helped make the dinner possible. 

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Posted: 6:48 a.m. November 22, 2018

RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) – The 9th annual Thanksgiving community meal is expected to serve 3,000 guests in Racine on Thursday.

This year, organizers have prepared 134 turkeys along with mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, rolls and more.

The meal is being served at Festival Hall from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. It is hosted by Dan Johnson of Danny’s Meats and Ray Stibeck of Route 20.

The meal is free to the public. Attendees are asked to donate nonperishable food items to the Racine County Food Bank at the door.

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