Waller takes over the Community Thanksgiving Dinner

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A Perryville Thanksgiving Day staple is back on.
The Community Thanksgiving Dinner will be held once again under the direction of Denise Waller, the assistant director at the New Life Mission Inn in Perryville. The Community Thanksgiving Dinner was in jeopardy if someone was not willing to put on the event. Susan Foster, the former director of the Senior Center, has helped organize the event in the past, but is unable to do it this year. It will once again be held on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24 from noon-3 p.m. at the Perryville Community Center.
“It’s one of those things where I saw they were needing help putting on the dinner and I thought about it as I was going to bed at night,” Waller said. “I’d wake up thinking about it some more and I called my family and they said they would help so I said let’s do it.”
The event was started by Chuck and Sharon Cathcart approximately 10 years ago for those who don’t have anywhere to go for a hot meal during the Thanksgiving holidays. In 2020, the dinner served about 500 people on Thanksgiving Day at the Senior Center. The dinner consists of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans and other dishes.
Along with the dine-in option, home delivery will also be offered.
Waller also felt obligated to help because of all the support the community has shown the New Life Mission Inn since it was established.
“This is our way of giving back to the community after they have been so great to us,” Waller said. “Everyone has been great from the community, to the businesses and everyone in between. At the City Council meeting Brent [Buerck] was so appreciative and thankful that someone was going to do it after it took a while for someone to step up. That kind of reaffirmed our decision.”
Waller has dove right into the planning process of the dinner.

“We have some donations of food already,” Waller said. “It is a bunch of work, but we are glad to do it.”
Foster has been a big help to Waller as she has taken over the event.
“She has really guided me through everything,” Waller said. “I’m glad for that because she has done this in the past and it is definitely a big undertaking.”
The one thing that Waller is pushing is the need for volunteers. She estimated that the dinner needs about 50 volunteers to run smoothly and is on the look-out for anyone willing to help.
“We need drivers to deliver the meals and help out at the day of the event,” she said.
For more information or to become a volunteer contact Waller at 573-513-2918.
She is excited to continue the tradition of the dinner.
“It will be a lot of turkey and dressing, but we will manage,” she said. “We want to make sure a great thing like this doesn’t get pushed by the wayside. It is a great thing for Perryville.”