Feast of Giving is for everybody, Paris added. There was no cost to anyone for the food or festivities, and not only was the event for people who may be food-insecure, but also for those who didn’t have family to be with for the holiday.
“We wanted people to feel like they could come in, have not only a free meal, but be in a warm and welcome environment and have some fun,” he said. “There’s just no reason to be hungry or lonely on Thanksgiving. This is one day we can all come together.”
The first Feast of Giving was in 1969, started by Elder-Beerman “as a thank-you to the community,” said Paris. At its peak, Dayton’s Feast of Giving was among the largest free community meals in the country, according to Woodard Development, one of the sponsors of the event.
The Elder-Beerman Foundation ran it until 2009, when it was taken over by Dermatologists of Southwest Ohio and several other prominent local businesses. This coalition continued Feast of Giving until 2019, after which COVID-19 and the renovations to the Dayton Convention Center paused the celebration for five years.
“It’s the triumphant return, we sometimes say,” Paris said. “A lot has changed. The world has changed. The space is different ... we were lucky and grateful that we’ve had many returning volunteers, but we knew a lot was going to be new. It’s been quite a journey.”
With the hiatus, organizers had little way of knowing how many people would come to this year’s Feast, Paris said. Originally, they had planned to have 6,000 servings’ worth of food but decided to increase the amount of food planned for a few reasons, including the government shutdown and the pause in SNAP benefits.
An army of more than 300 volunteers served a hot meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, pie and more to Dayton residents, with enough food for 7,000 servings. Any extras left at the end of the day were donated to Miami Valley Meals, Paris said.
About 500 volunteers contributed to making the event successful, Paris said, though many more people offered their time.
“We had close to 1,000 people actually volunteer, and we were still getting people raising their hand as late as (Wednesday),” Paris said. “And unfortunately, we couldn’t accept them all. But we’ve been really, really amazed at just the support and the outpouring.”
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