Thanksgiving dinner back to a sit down meal
For the first time in two years guests were able to sit down and enjoy their Thanksgiving dinner at Coshocton High School instead of just coming to pick up meals.
“It’s good to see the people coming in, interacting with the kids and they enjoy doing it. Our dinner tonight has been financed through donations. There are placemats out with a list of all the donations printed on them,” said Cathy Waibel, meal coordinator.
Principal Scot Loomis said, “There is no taxpayer money. This is all fund raised with donations from the community and by our student body. The teachers give a donation through a jeans month, elementary students have a change war, and they also raise 100s of dollars for this event. We’re excited to have this back face to face and get people in our building. That’s what it’s about. It’s about community engagement and our student interacting with the community. In this day and age, people hear about the negative things but there is a lot of great things happening at CHS and I’m happy our students can interact with the people. The Coshocton Chamber Choir kids are singing in the commons area as the people come in. We have a lot of kids here. We have our NHS, our Key Club, Varsity C, our basketball team, FCCLA, our junior high interact club, our elementary and high school student council that are helping. We have more than 100 kids working two shifts. We have 50 working right now and about 6:15 p.m. we have about 50 more coming in. So, we have more than 100 kids volunteering for Community Day and that’s great. That’s what it’s all about.”
Waibel said, “There was no turkey this year because of the bird flu the distributer said, so we ordered 60 hams. The dinner included green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, a roll and a pumpkin cupcake.”
Jennifer Andrews orders all of the food for this event. “Everybody works together,” she said. “The cooks in addition to preparing school lunch are also getting this meal ready. But we have been doing it for so long, it just flows.”
Mia Lauvray, Courtney Snyder, Jessica Smith, Emme Jackson and Lilah Laaper were helping guests at the door. “We are checking people in. Some people call and some just come in and we find a spot for them. I’ve helped before for the drive-in. That was a lot of cars,” Lilah said.
Sophomores Maggie Laaper and Sophia Skelton with senior Hailey Helter were serving and clearing the tables. “This is the fourth year I have helped do this. The last two years was pick up outside. There is two shifts. Our shift started at 5 p.m. to set everything up and the next shift comes in at 6:15 p.m. I really like doing it. You see the people in the community come out and have a meal together. It’s really nice to be able to serve,” Helter said.
Two and a half year old Presley Grace Spratt was enjoying her meal with Mom Amber Sells and Grandma Julie Sells. “We come every year. I went to school here. I like to see teachers and friends I used to play with at recess,” Amber said. Grandma Julie said, “It’s wonderful what they do for the community.”
Category: People & Places
