Dinner deemed success

By Samantha Pidde

CLINTON — The old Victory Center site was packed with people Wednesday for the Victory Center’s Great Thanksgiving Banquet .

According to Pastor Ray Gimenez, executive director of the Victory Center, a total of 590 plates were served. This number included men, women, children and the 70 volunteers working at the event. Gimenez said after the Victory Center moved to its new location, offices were removed at the old location, now Faith Center Church, to give it more space for the dinners. However, he noted, the area was still quite full during Wednesday’s dinner.

The evening began with a sing-along of gospel songs, led by Gimenez. Mayor Rodger Holm welcomed everyone to the event and former Mayor LaMetta Wynn led everyone in a prayer. Holm and Wynn were in charge of distributing prizes to those in attendance, later in the event. Pastor Floyd West, chaplain for Cordova’s professional racers, gave a 10-minute message. His message emphasized that Thanksgiving should not be seen as a national holiday, but as a holy celebration.

Volunteers squeezed through the aisles with plates of food and pitchers of lemonade and other beverages. Other volunteers worked in other areas, filling plates and pitchers and slicing pieces of pie.

“I’ve been here before and I wanted to help out so they can have Thanksgiving too,” said Alyssa Ward, who was volunteering with DM Services. Ward filled platters with plates of food for other volunteers to distribute to the many tables.

“It’s a great joy to be able to do this,” said Ellen Leeds, who volunteered with a group from the Erie, Ill., National Honor Society. Leeds moved from table to table, filling people’s glasses.

Lee Guy said he was happy to be at the dinner. He said the Victory Center provided a good atmosphere, good conversation and good food.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing they’re doing,” said Guy.

Wednesday night was the first year Antoinette Richards attended the Thanksgiving dinner. She and her four children enjoyed the event.

“I think it (the dinner) is a very, very, very good thing to do, especially at the holidays and with a recession. It is very nice,” said Richards. “And the kids are having a blast, too.”

A large amount of prizes were given away during the dinner. A boy and girl each won a bicycle and 40 other children received brand-new toys, donated by various citizens. A total of 31 cash prizes were given away and 45 gift certificates to area restaurants were handed out. Also, 25 turkeys with a large size groceries box were given to randomly chosen participants. One woman, who predicted the closest to the amount of food in the groceries cart give-away, walked away with both carts of food.

Gimenez said he was extremely thankful to all of those who made the dinner possible. Gimenez and Pastor Rob Miltenberger, assistant director of the Victory Center, presented their thanks and an award to Staff Sergeant Bradley Sawicki and Corporal Scott Spiegel from Rock Island, Ill., for all of the work the marines have done in distributing toys to local children. Gimenez said he was also grateful to Holm and Wynn and to all of the volunteers who worked during the dinner.

“They just did an outstanding job. They worked really hard,” said Gimenez.

Gimenez said the Victory Center was happy to receive so many wonderful donations. He said they were able to give away more than 140 gifts, including the food baskets and turkeys from extra food donations they received. Gimenez also thanked the Clinton Herald for the food drive held during the month. He reported the food drive brought in more than 700 bags of groceries totaling approximately 7,000 pounds.

“This could not have been so successful if not for them (the Clinton Herald). They made it happen,” said Gimenez. He also said he wanted to give a special thank you to the Ashford University teachers who raised more than $4,000.

“When I came into Clinton back in 1973 as a Detroit Tigers farm hand and played baseball here in Clinton, I always loved to hit a home run here because of the cheers I received. Today 36 years later I still like to hit a home run except for a different cause. The Great Thanksgiving Banquet Wednesday night was that home run and the cheers and appreciation and the smiles and happy faces in the poor told the story...It was a home run with the bases loaded! Thank you Clinton for a job well done!,” stated Gimenez in a follow-up e-mail.

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