Thanksgiving dinner a success

Great food, great service and a great turnout.

These are the words most would use to describe the Golden Hour Senior Center's Thanksgiving dinner, which took place last Thursday.

"The Thanksgiving dinner went well," GHSC Activities Coordinator Megan Brown said. "We had more people come to the 11:30 a.m. seating, but we had expected that."

Even though, this is one of the center's biggest dining events, things seemed to work well.

"I don't think we could change anything to make it better, everyone seemed to enjoy their lunch," Brown said.

Much of this could be attributed to the help from Expedition Academy students. The students not only helped serve lunch, but they cleaned up and reset all of the tables for the second seating. They also served coffee and dessert.

"Without the help from the Expedition Academy volunteers, we wouldn't be able to serve such a large crowd," she said. "It would be a lot less formal of an event."

Brown said they served about 196 at the tables, delivered 55 home meals and prepared 67 to-go meals.

"So over all, we served more people than last year, but it was about as many as we expected," Brown said.

Another perk of the event, was when the Green River High School drama students performed for the seniors.

"We really enjoyed having them, I think it was great practice for projection and how to work with an inattentive audience," he said. "We would love to have them back any time, many of our seniors enjoyed their performances; and were glad to have the entertainment."

Each table setting had a reminder card for the center's upcoming craft fair, a conversation starter for tables with those who did not know each other yet and a custom bookmark. The bookmark had a quote on it about being thankful.

"I think that the event was very special," she said. "We had quite a few patron's mention that it was the best Thanksgiving Dinner that they had had up here."

Resident Bert Chew said he and his wife visit the center quite often and Thursday was a good day to do so because of the special dinner.

Chew, who delivers meals for the center once a week, was ready to eat the food he had been smelling during his deliveries.

Usually, residents cannot wait to take a bite of the turkey, but Chew could care less.

"I like everything, but the turkey," he said.

Chew and other residents enjoyed the meal and company of friends.

"I've been waiting for this all day," resident Larry Cauthorn said.

"In fact, I turned one (a dinner) down in Rock Springs so I could eat here."

"We would just like to say how grateful we are to the volunteers from Expedition Academy and to the Drama Students from GRHS," she said. "The event wouldn't have been as amazing as it was without their help."