CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Nearly 600 dinners were served at the 10th Annual County Seat Restaurant Community Thanksgiving Dinner Thursday.
According to Mary Lenhart, the restaurant owner, 583 dinners were served including 75 takeout meals for the workers at the fiberboard plant — Clarion Industries — as well as meals delivered to the Pennsylvania State Police, the Clarion Borough Police, the Clarion University police and local workers at Sheetz and meals either eaten in the restaurant or taken out by the general public.
While the County Seat sponsors the event, Lenhart is the first to point out that it is really the entire community that makes it possible.
“This is truly a community event,” Lenhart said. “The Legion is exceptional in donations and area churches are very generous. The RRR Roadhouse donates all the rolls, and Daddy’s gives us the coleslaw. My restaurant suppliers always donate a case of something, like corn or something like that, and Clarion Fruit also donates food.”
In addition to area organizations and businesses, Lenhart is overwhelmed with the support the event receives from the community.
“We have customers come in here and donate money,” Lenhart said. “People donate pies and sweet breads. All of the desserts are donated, and the turkeys are baked by community members. It’s overwhelming, the amount of people who want to help. We have to turn people away because we only need so many helpers.”
Lenhart said the idea for the community Thanksgiving dinner came from a comment she made one day 10 years ago.
“I think I made a comment, jokingly, that we should serve Thanksgiving Dinner and not charge for it,” Lenhart recalled. “Some of the servers who worked here really liked the idea. So we decided to see if we could get the community to join in, and they did.”
Lenhart, who kept stressing the event as a community-wide event, said it costs about $2,500 for the day.
“We always get enough in donations to cover the meal for this year and for the next year,” Lenhart said. “We already have enough for next year.”
