Elgin might have four community dinners this year
An Elgin man who's been organizing popular - and free - community dinners open to anyone who wants to show up hopes he'll reach his goal of offering four such events this year.
Jeff Turner debuted his first community Christmas dinner in December after organizing dinners on Thanksgiving and around Valentine's Day for several years. Now, he wants to add a summertime event, likely a cookout at a park and ideally in June, he said.
"My goal from the start was to do four per year. This could be the first year we do four. If I have anything to say about it, it will be."
Turner, who owns In the Neighborhood Deli in Elgin, is raising funds for the upcoming Have a Heart dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 11 at First United Methodist Church, 216 E. Highland Ave. Any leftover money will be used for the next community event, whether this summer or at Thanksgiving, he said.
The Have a Heart dinner is a spaghetti cook-off featuring sauces prepared by the contestants, plus salad, garlic bread and plenty of desserts. Last year's winner was the Elgin Fire Department.
"We're hoping this year to have 15 different entries. More would be great," Turner said.
Turner said he raises, on average, about $3,000 for each event, which features up to 150 volunteers who help feed hundreds. The largest crowd was 1,500 on Thanksgiving a few years ago, the smallest about 600 this past Christmas, largely because word needed to get out more, he said.
The dinners are joyous occasions that attract people from a multitude of backgrounds, said volunteer Jim Koko of Elgin. Koko is a greeter, a job he took on a whim, he said.
"I would see people coming down the stairs looking kind of scared, kind of intimidated," he said. "So I figured I'd stand at the door and wave my arms and smile a lot to try to make it fun."
Turner started by helping out at the annual dinner serving homeless people held by St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elgin in 2007.
He said he took over the event the next year and turned it into a communitywide dinner, a decision sparked by seeing one of his son's classmates attend the church dinner with his family.
"It was a large family, so probably they couldn't afford to go to the store and get all the turkey and fixings for dinner," he said. "Anybody can come (to the community dinners). You don't have to be down on your luck. I wanted to bring people together because everybody can help each other and meet each other."
Anyone who wants to contribute to the Have a Heart dinner can drop off donations at In the Neighborhood Deli at 185 N. Edison Ave., Elgin. Checks should be made to Elgin Community Network, a nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization that acts as fiscal agent for the events.
Dessert donations can be dropped off at the Deli before Feb. 11 or at the church the day of the event. Interested volunteers can call (847) 888-9486.