Elgin hosts holiday feast for 1,000

The eighth annual Elgin Community Thanksgiving dinner at the First United Methodist Church brought families together to eat well and help them make new friends.

Organizer Jeff Turner said the Food for Friends organization donated 1,000 pounds of turkey, and the chefs at the Grand Victoria Casino handled cooking and carving the birds. He also estimated that close to 1,000 people were fed. This year's dinner is in honor of Anthony Pedot, a co-organizer of the event who is hospitalized and could not attend.

The dinner is sponsored by Turner, owner of the Elgin-based In the Neighborhood Deli and ITN Fresh (at Gail Borden Public Library), the Elgin Salvation Army, Shales McNutt Construction Co., and the United Way of Elgin.

So many volunteers were on hand that they all took turns on serving duty. Raul Villegas and his daughter, Raiza, 11, of Elgin volunteered serving dinner for the first time.

"It's really a unique experience to donate your time to help others," he said. "Typically, we as a family try to do that, but this is a better opportunity to teach those values to my daughter in a place like this.

"And the feeling? There is no way to describe being able to help others," he added with a smile.