Elgin caterer, shelter help prepare feast to feed 1,200

As soon as Rebecca Albert found out St. Joseph Catholic Church wasn't putting on its Thanksgiving Day dinner for the low-income and homeless - an Elgin tradition for the past 24 years - the caterer snapped into action and called her best friend.

Her best friend happens to be Gretchen Vapnar, executive director of the Community Crisis Center, a local shelter for women and children.

Together, the women, as well as Albert's daughter Kari Albert Sheppard, joined forces and decided they'd organize the dinner.

Within three days, a host of donors had given $5,000 - enough for Albert's Elgin catering company, which is named after herself - to prepare a feast for 1,200 people.

Officials from Church of the Brethren said Albert and her staff could use their kitchen to prepare the meals.

Moreover, city officials stepped up and said the women could hold the 25th annual dinner at the Hemmens Cultural Center.

Dozens of volunteers offered to serve food and clean up afterward - Albert said she even had to turn some 300 volunteers away.

All of the generosity Albert saw in such a short period of time - she had 10 days to get everything together -was heartwarming and left her overjoyed.

To sit on her hands and do nothing about filling the Thanksgiving Day void was not an option, she said.

"I can't sit down to Thanksgiving dinner knowing there's 1,000 people on the street with no place to go," Albert said.

Less than an hour into the Thanksgiving Day festivities, more than 200 people had shown up to enjoy the dinner and the atmosphere, which included a live jazz pianist.

Elgin resident Michael Hargrove, who says he had been homeless on and off for four years and recently moved into an apartment, was one of the people looking forward to a filling meal.

After chowing down on turkey, yams with marshmallows and gravy, the one-time chef sipped hot coffee for dessert.

Was he going back for seconds?

"I've eaten enough," he said, with a smile. "I'm comfortably full."