DURYEA — Thanksgiving dinners find family and friends together, enjoying company and, most especially, enjoying a good meal.
That’s exactly what went on last Saturday evening in Duryea. Instead of dinner at Grandma’s house, however, it was at the Germania Hose Company. And, although there were more than a few grandmothers in the room, the “family” was really the community.
For the third year in a row, a community Thanksgiving dinner was held in the borough.
“Usually people think something like this is for people who might not be able to afford a Thanksgiving dinner or for ‘only certain people,’ but this is truly for anyone, who comes through the door,” said Nick Lohman, the town’s police chief and driving force behind the event.
Chief Lohman, who started as a patrolman in Duryea in 1999, said he saw Thanksgiving dinners going on in towns all over the area and thought it a good idea for the borough he serves.
“We all started talking about this about five or six years ago, and finally, about three years ago, we all said, ‘Let’s just do this.’ And the community came together to make it happen,” he said.
Originally, plans were for the town’s Crime Watch group to get funding together, but when the chief posted the project on the department’s Facebook page, offers came in from all over town.
“Dozens of businesses contacted us, offering donations and support,” he said. “Tonight, for example, Family Pharmacy in town offered to pay for the turkey and gravy, and the people at Gerrity’s Market in Moosic cooked it all up for us. Businesses and organizations from all over the area added their help to the cause.”
As a result, Duryea contradicted the idea that there is “no free lunch.” All comers got a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings on the house. And few in the room could pick a favorite from their platters.
“It’s all very good. Everything is delicious,” said Barbara Best, of Pittston, who came with her favorite fella, husband Robert. He didn’t care for his vegetables, though.
“He’s a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy,” Barbara said.
Robert wasn’t the only one in the room who didn’t like vegetables, either. Joshua Dale Sutton, of Exeter Township, politely avoided the beans and carrots on his plate, in spite of his mom, Patty, and grandma, Jackie O’Brien, who tried to get him to finish the serving.
“But I do think I want dessert,” Sutton said, eyeing the table laden with cupcakes, cookies and a variety of pastries. “I have my eye on that chocolate cupcake.”
And at the next table, Tyler Santee, 14, from Duryea, helped by not only cleaning his plate but also helping his 12-year-old brother Kyle finish his stuffing.
“I don’t have to worry about any food going to waste,” said mom, Carolyn Santee. And if neither of the boys stepped up, the other seven family members and a couple of friends at the table could have helped out.
The family matriarch, Florence Rowan, even ate her dessert first.
“There are priorities,” she said.
There was no seating time. Each time the door opened, and it did almost continuously, more diners piled in. It could be anyone from a group of friends who got together to celebrate the holiday with the community family to Father Carmen Bolock and his wife, Pat, from the St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church.
A group of greeters met the newcomers, helped them to seats and got orders to the kitchen. Behind the counter, cadets from Lackawanna College’s police academy and Duryea council vice president Lois Hanszyc ladled out helpings.
The cadets agreed that service to the community is about 75 percent of what police officers do, so the night was just an object lesson in something they have been learning at the academy.
Volunteers from the town’s Crime Watch and Boy Scout Troop 285 made sure every diner got a plate and something to drink.
“It’s a nice thing to help out,” said Scout Brandon Mickavicz, from Pittston, who is also working on his Eagle Scout rank.
“That’s what these young men do all the time,” said Scout leader Dorothy Collins. “We get a call, and they step up, wherever they’re needed.”
Business owners even came up with grand baskets that could be raffled off, and the proceeds will go toward other community events, like the upcoming Christmas Stroll and a variety of picnics in the coming year.
“The people who live in Durea are like a family,” Chief Lohman said. “And when there’s an event, they come together to make it happen. People know each other, and when they meet new people at a dinner like this or at any other town event, they make new friends. That’s what makes a great community. And we have one here.”
