Coming together in University Place over Thanksgiving turkey and fixins’

Thanksgiving started early for Derek Bray, the chef-owner of The Table, a restaurant on Tacoma’s Sixth Avenue.

He was at his restaurant at 5:45 a.m. Thursday to start work on a holiday meal for 150 mouths.

But no money was changing hands. The food was going to a free community dinner in University Place.

Bray and seven volunteers made roast turkey, apple-rosemary stuffing, candied yams with currants and spiced hazelnuts, buttered mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce.

The event was organized by Peace Out, a nonprofit that teaches young people about philanthropy and community service while it raises funds for other local nonprofits.

Peace Out was started in 2007 as a fundraiser for a young woman with cancer.

“We just figured that this was something we could teach other kids to do,” said co-founder and director Michelle McLean. “Our hope is that we’re building future givers.”

Bray was donating his time, and along with other sponsors, the cost of the food.

“The most basic, soulful thing you can do for someone is to feed them,” Bray said. “And that just happens to be what I’m really good at.”

Bray is used to making large amounts of food. He served as kitchen coordinator for the Tacoma Rescue Mission for two years. There he was responsible for up to 1,000 meals a day.

On Thursday, he was wearing a gray apron stuffed with a variety of cooking implements, including a thermometer he was using to ensure the turkeys reached 160 degrees.

Volunteer Alex Takacs, a first lieutenant and nurse at Madigan Army Medical Center, has spent the last decade volunteering for a variety of food-related programs.

“Why not give a little bit for somebody else?” she said when asked why she does it. “If none of us came out, there would be no community dinner.”

At last year’s Peace Out dinner she saw a few of her neighbors dining.

“I thought, wow, they need this dinner,” she said.

“It’s a great way to start the day — knowing that you’re giving a meal to people who may be down on their luck,” said University Place resident and volunteer Amanda Kleber as she stripped meat from a turkey just out of the oven.

Though Peace Out members didn’t turn anyone away Thursday they aimed the meal at people who couldn’t afford a Thanksgiving dinner or were alone for the holiday, said Nicole Jovich-Johnson of Peace Out.

THE MEAL

In University Place Primary School’s kitchen, four volunteers stood shoulder to shoulder as they dished out plate after plate to eager diners.

“White or dark?” each diner was asked. “Where would you like your gravy?”

The event drew a wide range of people. Young people pushed elders in wheelchairs. Latino, white, black and Asian diners sat side by side.

At one table, Mona Leigh sat across from her two sons, Antoine, 8, and Brandon, 12.

“It’s expensive to go buy a turkey and the fixings,” Mona said. “It does last a few days but they don’t want to eat it for days.”

Her husband and the boys’ father is overseas with the military. The separation has been tough.

“It was hard (at first) but we’ve learned to deal with it,” Brandon said as he worked on the candied yams. Antoine, too shy to speak, nodded.

Mona used the dinner to show her boys that others were experiencing separation on Thanksgiving and could come together as a community.

“Instead of being alone in the house, I wanted to let them know there would be others,” Mona said.

Marcos and Silvia Cornelio of Lakewood brought their five children, ages 8 to 16, to the dinner.

The couple have been down on their luck. Marcos was hurt on the job and Silvia has to care for a developmentally delayed son.

“They make us feel like family,” Silvia said of the Peace Out volunteers. “You don’t have to be rich or poor, big or small.”

Eldest son Marcos Jr., 16, a student at Clover Park High School, said his Mexican-American family was able to enjoy a traditional American dinner. In the evening they would celebrate with extended family members, Mexican style: tamales, pozole and turkey in mole sauce.

Diplomatically, he said he liked both dinners equally.

“(Thanksgiving) is a time to get together and enjoy a good meal,” he said, finding the common denominator.

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Coming together in University Place over Thanksgiving turkey and fixins’."