Karen Parker helps assemble Thanksgiving to-go meals Nov. 23, 2023, at the Pendleton Salvation Army.

PENDLETON — About 12 volunteers vigorously scooped and placed potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey and gravy into styrofoam meal containers as 11 a.m. ticked closer.

The Thanksgiving Day meals were all supposed to be ready by 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 23, so deliveries could begin and the sit-down meal at the Salvation Army Pendleton Corps could start.

Some employees of the Salvation Army, such as administrative assistant Melissa Widel, had been there since 7 a.m. working to get the space and food ready. Widel said she had been there until 7 p.m. Nov. 22 doing the same.

Volunteers arrived around 10 a.m., and patrons began milling outside in the half hour or so before the meal was supposed to be served.

One volunteer, Joan Magana, said she came with her coworker, Tiffany Fine, because she wanted to show people they’re worthy of kindness and respect. The pair work for a local peer center to support people struggling with mental health and substance use.

“It’s very personal to me,” Magana said of volunteering for the meal, during which she dished out green bean casserole. “This is very rewarding and very fulfilling.”

Magana said she plans to come back again next year and incorporate this into her annual Thanksgiving tradition.

Maj. Toni Halstad of the Pendleton Corps said the crew was prepared to serve around 200 people between their 75 to 80 scheduled deliveries and the number of people they thought might attend the meal in person, either to eat in the building or take it out.

The doors finally opened around 11:20 a.m., only 20 minutes behind schedule. Halstad said small delays like that happen almost every year.

Some people came alone, while others came in a group.

Michael Walman, 70, has lived most of his life in Pendleton. He said he attended the event because he lives nearby and didn’t have a place to spend the holiday.

“It means a lot, it really does,” he said of the meal and having volunteers helping out. “I’m grateful for the meal and to have some fellowship.”

One family of three, Dianna and Ivaan Carillo and Dianna’s mother, Starr Craig, had originally planned to eat with family in Hermiston.

But after their plans changed and they decided to stay in Pendleton, the three chose to eat at the Salvation Army.

“We ate here all the time when we moved here seven years ago,” Dianna Carillo said. When she and her husband arrived in Pendleton, they were homeless and they soon lost their car, too.

The couple said they ate at the Salvation Army every day. Eventually, they were able to move into an apartment with the help of a housing program through the Community Action Program of East-Central Oregon.

“This town has saved our lives,” Carillo said.

Coming to the Thanksgiving meal now, she said, far better off than they once were, is humbling. She and Ivaan said they feel grateful to now have a home and to return to the Salvation Army and be around the community that made such a difference in their lives.

“And it’s good food, good company,” she added. “I just think it’s amazing what they do. Everyone is so pleasant.”