Two months ago, the Aberdeen Food Bank announced that its yearly tradition of providing Thanksgiving food baskets to the public would not continue in 2023. Up to that point this year, the food bank had served close to 3,000 people per month on average — the most people it had ever seen, and three times the amount than before the COVID pandemic.

Donations were also down, and food costs were up, especially for Thanksgiving items. Cutting out the turkey dinners would allow them to save more for Christmas meals.

Then a pair of anonymous donors stepped in to save the day. The help from good Samaritans provided for turkeys, chickens, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes and a host of other items — enough for 200 meal baskets that the food bank distributed to the community.

With more people than ever relying on food banks, other groups continuing their traditions of providing free Thanksgiving meals play an amplified role in combating food insecurity.

The Immanuel Baptist Church in Hoquiam has hosted a free meal on Thanksgiving for the last 16 years. Last year, 1,200 people either dined at the church, picked up a meal or received a food delivery. Organizers of the event think that number could be even larger this year.

Natali Burgess, a member of the church who works as a housing coordinator for Grays Harbor County Public Health, said rollbacks of COVID-era food and rent assistance programs are likely contributing to a “deeper and larger need” for holiday meals this year.

In March, about 16,000 people in Grays Harbor County began to receive less food stamp money when the federal government ended the extra allotments it had provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the COVID pandemic. For some families, food budgets shrunk by hundreds of dollars.

A recent news release from Grays Harbor College pinned the county’s food insecurity rate — the proportion of people who may not know where their next meal is coming from — at 15%, about 3% higher than the national average.

Anyone from the community is welcome to the church, located at 1200 Soule Ave. in Hoquiam, on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23 for a sit-down meal served from noon to 3 p.m. The event will be run by a group of volunteers, which is also working to deliver meals to people who can’t drive to the church.

About 150 of the meals prepared at Immanuel Baptist will be delivered to Kaleo Church at 101 South H St. in Aberdeen. In an event intended to serve the homeless community, those meals will be available starting around 12:30 p.m., and Simon Rowe, a pastor at Kaleo Church, said he hopes to have a live music performance lined up.

“It’s a place where people can sit down and have a safe spot to fellowship amongst each other,” Rowe said. For people who might not have family in the area, Rowe said, “We’re giving that opportunity for them to feel welcomed and have an actual holiday experience.”

Despite high costs, food banks across Grays Harbor, as well as The Moore Wright Group in Aberdeen, were able to provide Thanksgiving meal baskets in the days leading up to the holiday. For the Ocean Shores food bank, which expects to serve 350 people with a drive-thru service, director Sandy Harley said high turkey prices meant switching the bird of choice to chicken.

Although turkey prices are still higher than a few years ago, this fall’s birds have better value than last year, when an avian influenza outbreak choked gobbler flocks and prices soared. The outbreak winded down earlier this year, and production has been up since then, easing nationwide prices down just in time for Thanksgiving, to about $1.25 per pound, according to a news release from the United States Department of Agriculture.

Ocean Shores residents craving turkey can head to the Lion’s Club on Thursday from noon to 3 p.m. for a free community meal.

Lion’s Club Secretary Maureen Moyer said the meal, which includes pick-up and delivery options, has been a tradition for at least two decades. For many years, before the pandemic, they served about 300 people each year, but have served 800 people in the past several years, and Moyer expects the number could be similar this year.

“It’s not just the Lions, it’s the community that helps put this on,” Moyer said.

Another community dinner, hosted by the Willapa Harbor Chamber of Commerce, is returning after a several-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic and the death of an event organizer. Jovon Vaughn, director of the chamber, said they have enough fixings to feed several hundred people. The dinner will start at 2 p.m. and last until 6 p.m. at the Willapa Harbor Community Center, located at 916 W. First St. in South Bend.

Vaughn noted the important effort of food drives to distribute turkeys to households, but said the community dinner tradition is important for several reasons: extra food items necessary to prepare a wholesome meal, like spices, are sometimes the costliest, especially with recent inflation; at the same time, people who live in RVs or apartments may not have the kitchen capacity to cook a large bird.

“One of the good things about having a holiday is you are supposed to sit around the table and share a meal with folks,” Vaughn said. “I just wanted to make sure that our community had the opportunity to do so.”

Perhaps the coziest community Thanksgiving dinner in the area, though, will happen in Elma, at ShuJacks Bar and Grill on Main Street at 4 p.m. ShuJacks is continuing a 15-year tradition of providing free meals for people 21 and up, and any donations — which are encouraged — will be provided to a local charity.

With enough food to feed a few dozen people, ShuJacks owners said the event is tailored toward bar regulars and people without a place to go on Thanksgiving.

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.

Volunteers with the Ocean Shores Lions Club help out with the club’s annual Thanksgiving dinner during a past event. Attendees to the dinner more than doubled after the COVID pandemic, according to a Lion’s Club official. (The Daily World file photo)