DIXON—So you think you had a lot of people to cook for this Thanksgiving? Try a crowd of about 500.
The Knights of Columbus Council 690, and dozens of volunteers, have an ongoing tradition of serving free Thanksgiving Day dinners to anyone who arrives at the KC hall in Dixon ready for a feast. About 200 more dinners are sent out to those who can’t get to the hall to dine, if they live in the Dixon area.
“There is a big mix of people. Everything is positive,” said Gary Gornik, Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus.
“We have all different types of people. We have homeless people; we have people that are rich. Young and old, they just want to share the day.
“We also have gotten with the Lee Ogle Transportation Services who offer free rides for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get here,” Gornik said. “It’s very important. We need the fellowship, but also need to feed those who need food.
“There are a lot of people who are homeless,” he said. “For some, it’s the best meal they will have all year.”
Although the free dinners have been served for the past several years every Thanksgiving Day, the tradition for some of these Dixon Knights and the wives who help them goes back even longer than that, said Luke Dixon, Grand Knight.
It was started by the St. Patrick Parish Youth Group in the late 1980s. The youth group operated the free dinners for about 20 years.
When it stopped for a year, the Knights took over the task, and by that time many of the youth group members were actually KCs themselves, Dixon said.
“We get loads of people who help us. We get people who don’t have family in the area, and just want some company,” Dixon said.
The Grand Knight’s great, great-great-grandfather was the founder of the city of Dixon. The founder was known as “Father Dixon,” and he also was very philanthropic-minded. When he died at age 92, according to historian Fran Swarbrick, the town council adopted a proclamation honoring him as: “…the noblest work of God, an honest man.”
“I think the way he lived his life is kind of the way we live our life in the council. He died very poor, but all the land he had around Dixon he gave off to people — it helped build Dixon,” his descendent said.
Long before lunch
It all starts at 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, when about a dozen roasters are fired up and the turkeys are cooked for several hours. Slicing begins at 11 a.m., and the meats — which this year included hams — are kept warm in the ovens until serving at midday.
Bob Wolfe, a Fourth Degree Knight, has donated his time to the dinner duties since the knights took it over. When the food is ready to serve, he mans a ladle and gets busy.
“I’m the gravy man,” he said.
Betty Kanzler, wife of KC member Richard Kanzler, feels fulfilled when she sees the people pour into the hall, because she spends the weeks before Thanksgiving posting announcements all around the town, hoping interested people will see the fliers.
Besides serving about 250 people in the hall, carry-outs are available. Free deliveries are made in the Dixon area.
“I think we just think about other people not having family to go to,” Kanzler said. “Some people are alone and they don’t have any one. They can come down to the KC hall and have turkey, ham, green beans, corn, cranberries, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, coffee and pie and sit around and talk and enjoy one another.
“We have plenty. We have a lot of businesses that donate money. A lot of individuals give money.”
Usually, volunteers start calling about a month before the event, offering to help. One very dedicated man comes every year from the Oregon area, and says he wouldn’t miss it for the world. He is not a Catholic, but the members are thinking of making him an honorary Knight. After all, he’s caught the spirit of the day and enjoys helping others.
In 2014, more than 500 meals were served. Half of those meals were served in the building and the rest delivered by a LOTS volunteer, or given as carry-outs to go home with the diners.
The event has been recognized with an award by the Knights of Columbus organization for community service. That recognition has prompted even more donations from the many area businesses which fund the food purchases.
“We don’t do it for the awards. People have such a good time. The volunteers are tireless. The people get a good meal. They see friends that they haven’t seen for a long time; it’s camaraderie. Otherwise, they might be sitting at home on their own,” Kanzler said.