Bay City Tribune

While most Bay City families will be gathered around the family table to enjoy a lavish Thanksgiving meal together, the Cookers for Christ and many volunteers will gather at the Bay City Service Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday Nov. 26, to serve their less fortunate neighbors.

This will mark the seventh year that a core group of six men have joined forces with many other volunteers to serve the hot meal to anyone in the community who needs it.

Bill Moye, Cookers for Christ spokesman, said the group began with one man, the youngest of the cookers, who got the idea and recruited five others of all age groups who all happened to be members of the First United Methodist Church of Bay City.

"When we started it was just a grass roots thing," said Moye.

"We went and asked for donations to kind of get us started and it has just grown from there."

Moye said each year they serve on average 200 to 300 people.

"Every year we base the amount of food we cook on how many we served the year before and what the economy is doing," he said.

"This year we have increased the amount of turkeys we are cooking by about 20 percent over last year."

A typical Thanksgiving Day for the Cookers for Christ begins at 6 a.m. when they begin cooking turkeys and doesn't end until late in the day when everyone has been served, the Service Center cleaned and the remaining food placed in the hands of those who need it.

Moye said the whole day would not be possible without the many volunteers who prepare trimming dishes and desserts, donate money for the turkeys, serve and clean.

"We may have started with just six guys but if it was only the original six of us we wouldn't get this done," said Moye.

"We definitely depend on volunteers and donations."

Moye said most of what they serve comes from people who prepare extra when they are cooking for their family Thanksgiving meal and then dropped off to be served on the day of the event.

This will be the first year that the Cookers for Christ have joined forces with the Bay City Police Department and Boy Scout Troop 216 to host the first day to sign up to be a recipient from the Matagorda County Holiday Food Drive.

While the Thanksgiving meal is being served, Bay City Police Officers will be taking applications for those in need of food boxes.

Anyone in need is welcome to apply for the food boxes. Only one form of identification is required when signing up.

Moye said this is just another way the event has evolved through the years but the focus will always remain the same serving and supporting everyone who needs it with a hot Thanksgiving meal.