ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – The Drumstick Dash is a Roanoke staple and is back for another run on Thursday.
The race is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Roanoke Rescue Mission, bringing in several hundred thousand dollars each year that helps the organization feed and shelter hundreds each day.
After the race is run, the Mission will hold its annual Thanksgiving feast, open to anyone in the community in need of a family to sit down to a Thanksgiving meal with.
“If for some reason you’re not able to be with your family this year, we are your family at the Mission,” said Lisa Thompson, director of marketing and communications for the Rescue Mission. “We love you and we would love for you to spend Thanksgiving Day with us at the Mission.”
The Rescue Mission serves around 600 meals each day between breakfast, lunch, and dinner but is prepped to serve more than 500 in one sitting at this year’s Thanksgiving feast.
In order to pull off the meal, Rescue Mission workers are joined by a team of volunteers to help prep all the food and get everything ready.
“Cleaning the tables, cleaning the walls, doing the dishes, we can do the smaller things so that the employees and the workers can do the more important things so that it’s a team effort,” said Jessica Worrell, who was volunteering for the set-up process on Wednesday with her family.
This is the family’s second-straight year volunteering for the feast and they say it feels like the beginning of a family tradition centered around giving back to their local community.
“Everybody’s really struggling right now and we’re all just one step from needing help ourselves so this place is a savior for so many people,” said Worrell.
The meal will be served directly following the conclusion of the Drumstick Dash and will include more than 100 turkey breasts, 1,500 rolls, and 300 pies, along with so much more.
The meal will be served at the Rescue Mission in downtown Roanoke, but a curbside pickup option will be offered for those who feel more comfortable having their Thanksgiving meal elsewhere.