Freedom. Community. Family. Kindness. The food, with all the servers.

A crowd gathered outside St. Barnabas Episcopal Church was thankful for all these on Thursday as priest Leigh Waggoner blessed the annual community Thanksgiving dinner.

Hundreds of free holiday meals were subsequently served to people of all walks of life – young and old, bachelors and families. Meals were also delivered to homebound residents.

“We roasted 30 turkeys,” said Waggoner. “We have 12 gallons of gravy.”

In addition to the turkey and gravy, the menu included green beans, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pickles, black olives, and of course, pie. A lot of pie. There were approximately 50 pies total: apple, cherry, pecan, blueberry and pumpkin.

“It was very good,” said Frank Yazzie, of Arizona.

Yazzie and his wife, Rose, their son and two grandchildren were thankful for the holiday meal. Rose Yazzie said the family decided to take a drive, and just happened upon the community feast.

“We’re all alone at home,” she said, “so this is nice.”

Church administrator Betsy Jones said scores of volunteers from across the community had been working for weeks to prepare for the annual event, which started 17 years ago.

“This isn’t just a church effort,” said Jones. “The whole community came together to do this. It’s just a blessing.”

tbaker@cortezjournal.com