Messalonskee Community Thanksgiving Dinner 2024
The first wave of volunteers comes Tuesday when local Girl Scouts arrive at Messalonskee High School to bake about 200 dessert pies – pumpkin and apple leading the list.
About 24 hours later, a day before the event, the second wave rolls in to prepare the turkey and trimmings that serve as both the centerpiece of the holiday and the main entree of the annual Messalonskee Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner.
The meal, a tradition in Oakland for more than 25 years, will run 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Messalonskee cafeteria. Admission – as always – is free. For more information or to get a meal delivered on Thanksgiving Day, call the Turkey Hotline at 207-314-3893.
So, too, is the help. And the third and final wave of those volunteers sweeps in on Thursday, according to Mike Perkins, the long-time organizer of the event.
Perkins, a bus driver for RSU 18 and local businessman, isn’t sure of the exact size of his volunteer army, but he said more than 100 is a safe bet, and he never struggles to keep it at full strength.
The reason for his recruitment success, he said, is the same reason he comes back year after year to organize the event. “It is such a warm feeling to give back [to the community],” he said.
Perkins said he anticipates as many as 700 people from Oakland and surrounding communities will come to Messalonskee for the meal, and his battalion of volunteer drivers will deliver turkey dinners to hundreds more in the area, ranging from households to police departments to pockets of homeless people.
On Thanksgiving Day morning, Perkins and the rest of his caring crew will assemble at the high school about 6. Many will stay an hour or two after the final meal is served to clean up.
From start to finish, the workload for volunteers is considerable, but nevertheless Perkins said the opportunity to offer the community hot meals and good fellowship never grows stale.
What: Messalonskee Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday
Where: Messalonskee High School cafeteria
Cost: Free
Deliveries/More Information: Call the Turkey Hotline at 207-314-3893