Iraq, Iran refugees part of Hawthorn Woods dinner
Roughly 95 guests, including refugees from the Middle East, enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings as part of a fifth annual community Thanksgiving at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Hawthorn Woods.
Church members Dean and Sue Stewart headed a kitchen team that prepared the spread free to anyone who wished to visit from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday.
Taking a break from his kitchen duties, Dean Stewart said the idea for the community Thanksgiving hatched after the couple's combined three siblings and their families moved to other states.
“We were kind of cooking a big meal for just a few people,” he said. “And then we found there were a number of other people in the same situation.”
Stewart said the inaugural community Thanksgiving attracted about 40 guests in 2007. He said 95 were expected Thursday in St. Matthew's basement, which has room for more.
Among Thursday's visitors were 20 refugees from Iraq and Iran who were brought to St. Matthew by the Rev. Hicham Chehab, pastor of Salam Arabic Fellowship in Lombard.
Chehab, who leads a weekly Arabic worship service at the Christian fellowship, said some in his group arrived in the United States only a month ago seeking political asylum. He briefed them on Thanksgiving before the holiday arrived.
“They are persecuted over there, so they feel they arrived to the land of freedom and they kind of enjoy it,” Chehab said. “We were driving from Wheaton, 55 minutes, looking around. They haven't seen such nature and beauty.”
St. Matthew's kitchen crew cranked out 252 pounds of turkey that received a salt brine and under-skin marinade, along with two kinds of sweet potatoes and other eats.
In addition, turkey tetrazzini was prepared for a contribution later in the day to St. Matthew Lutheran Church on 21st Street in Chicago, where the El Comedor Popular Soup Kitchen operates.
New church member Tony Crisara served as Stewart's sous chef and clearly enjoyed the homey atmosphere in Hawthorn Woods, which included football on television and a prayer from St. Matthew Senior Pastor Timothy Kinne.
“It's sweet,” Crisara said. “We are all one big family, not just individuals.”