Catholic Charities prepares for Bishop's Thanksgiving Dinner

BY BILL DOYLE | CFP CORRESPONDENT

WORCESTER - For the 63rd year, Catholic Charities Worcester County will coordinate the Bishop’s Holiday Dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Bishop McManus will host the dinners for the 18th year at the Cenacle at St. Paul Cathedral and he is the fifth Bishop of Worcester to host them.    
About 200 meals are expected to be served in person at noon on Thanksgiving Day and more than 3,000 meals will be delivered to those in need.
As usual, the dinners and deliveries would not be possible without the many people who volunteer to help. Many have volunteered for quite a few years.
“They may have their kid with them,” said Catholic Charities Executive Director Timothy McMahon, “and they started doing it 35 years ago as a kid with their parents. It’s very much a generational thing. People look forward to it, people really feel good about it. You’re doing 3,000 meals and you’re packaging things and everyone is moving fast, but there is very, very little stress in the room. People are happy and really feeling like they’re doing something important for someone else.”
To volunteer, visit www.ccworc.org or call Catholic Charities at 508-798-0191 or call the volunteer hotline at 508-860-2240. Nearly 500 people volunteered last year.
Volunteers are needed to serve dinner at St. Paul and to pack the more than 3,000 delivered meals and to pick them up drive-thru style at the gym at St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School next to the Catholic Charities office at 10 Hammond St. and to deliver them. Each car delivers 10-12 meals.
Mr. McMahon said volunteers are needed for Thanksgiving, but even more so for Christmas because about a third fewer people volunteer for that holiday.
Tens of thousands of dollars are raised through sponsors to pay for the free meals. If more money is raised than needed, it’s donated to the Catholic Charities food pantries in Worcester, Leominster, Southbridge and Milford. Once again, Catholic Charities has hired Broadway Restaurant to cook the meals.
Registration is not required for the meal at St. Paul Cathedral. Catholic Charities provides buses to and from St. Paul’s and will pick up individuals at: Lincoln Village, Booth Apartments, Seabury Heights, Green Hill Towers, Belmont Apartments, Green Island NOC, Greenwood Gardens, Canterbury Towers, Elm Park Towers, Pleasant Towers, Murray Avenue Apartments, Marble Apartments, and Webster Square Towers.Bus routes and times will be publised next week.
Meals are delivered to homebound elders and those who are disabled, homeless or lacking a meal. To have a meal delivered call 508-798-0191 or visit www.ccworc.org.
When the pandemic hit two years ago, the number of meals delivered jumped from 2,000 to 3,000 each on Thanksgiving and Christmas and remained the same last year.
Madalyn Sirois coordinated the holiday dinners the last three years, but she moved to Maine last summer. Jerry Beddes recently retired after serving a vital role as well. Mr. McMahon said eight to 10 other Catholic Charities staffers will organize the meals this year.
A new marketing and development coordinator, Lauren Morocco, is scheduled to start on Nov. 28 and will oversee the dinner for next Thanksgiving.
Mr. McMahon drops by the sit-down dinner at St. Paul, but he’s more involved in the packaging and delivering of meals. He arrives at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day to help oversee the meal packaging and delivery, and the coordination of the volunteers. He also delivers some meals to those in need.
“There’s a likelihood that you’re going to be the only face that they see on that day,” he said.
So, Mr. McMahon believes it’s important to deliver the dinners with a smile.
Besides individual donors, corporate sponsors include: Saint Francis Community Healthcare, Inc., Rockland Trust, BayState Savings Bank, J.J. Bafaro, Inc., Griffin and Company, Price Chopper, Hanover Insurance, The Protector Group Charitable Foundation, The Boston Red Sox, The Camosse Family Foundation, TD Bank, Cornerstone Bank, Worker’s Credit Union, Clinton Savings Bank, Grantham Group, Reliant Medical Group, Dauphinais Concrete, Hanover Insurance Group, The Grenon Family Foundation, Berkshire Bank, Digital Federal Credit Union, Cornerstone Bank, Fallon Health, Risk Strategies, Savers Bank, Southbridge Credit Union, UniBank, Worcester State University, The Eppinger Family Foundation, Atlas Distributing, DiMeo Schneider & Associates, Leominster Credit Union, Eastern Bank, Machado Consulting, Reliant Medical Group, Rollstone Bank & Trust, St. John’s High School, and Greater Worcester Community Foundation.