"It brightens my day:" Volunteers fill plates, deliver Thanksgiving meals to seniors in need

ST. FRANCIS (WITI) -- Volunteers filled plates with all the fixings that make up a delicious Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, November 27th -- and more than 4,000 meals were delivered to seniors in need.

"I'm here every holiday and it just makes it a holiday. It's wrong if I'm not here. I love it," said Community Projects for Seniors volunteer Bonnie Gomez.

Gomez is one of 400 volunteers for Community Projects for Seniors. She started 13 years ago -- to teach her son an important lesson.

"I think that my son needed to learn that not only on the holidays, but every day we have more of a purpose in life than just self-fulfilling our needs," said Gomez.

Volunteers like Gomez are critical in accomplishing the mission of Community Projects for Seniors which is to deliver nearly 4,300 Thanksgiving meals to seniors, as many of the elderly find themselves alone over the holidays.

"Not only can they look forward to a very delicious meal, but they get to look forward to a human being who cares about them showing up at their door and chatting with them," said Community Projects for Senior Office Manager Colleen West.

Assembly lines of volunteers packaged all of the meals within an-hour-and-a-half.

"One person passes the container, then turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, but in between each food item there are tray pushers to push the tray along because it goes faster," said West.

As the delivery cars rolled up they were packed with the hot meals to be taken to their special homes.

"I'm kind of depressed because it's a lonely holiday -- but this makes me feel better, you know. It brightens my day," said Lola Feller as she received her Thanksgiving meal.

If you are interested in learning to how volunteer or receive food from Community Projects for Seniors CLICK HERE.