‘Kearney Area Concerned Citizens’ holds annual Thanksgiving Meal

KEARNEY, Neb. (KSNB) - Cars lined up to receive a hot Thanksgiving Meal from the Kearney Area Concerned Citizens Thursday for the 37th-annual Thanksgiving meal.

Organizers say they usually serve around 1,500 people, and normally the event is held indoors, giving residents the opportunity to sit and enjoy a meal. However, the past few years they have done take out and delivery. Some volunteers say they got involved by taking a chance.

“When my husband and I started, our kids were little,” said Kearney Area Concerned Citizen committee member Bambi Curry. “We had a friend who kept talking about this group and how fun it was to be apart of, and so he was like ‘please come and try it and see if you like it.’ Our kids were little, we came and we’re still here.”

Bambi’s daughter, Lerrin Rowe, says Kearney is a community that cares a lot about each other. The event ran from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, and the Curry family has been involved with the event for the past 30 years. They say they enjoy making an impact in the community.

“There’s people here that care, that want to make sure that they get to enjoy Thanksgiving, as they would like to,” said committee member Moriah Curry.

“For a lot of people, if we didn’t provide the meal today they probably wouldn’t have Thanksgiving dinner,” Bambi added. “That’s the honest truth.”

The Curry family’s hard work doesn’t go unnoticed as people consistently express their gratitude for the work they do.

“We get some lovely thank you cards in the mail from people,” Bambi said. “Especially if a family member is alone here and they have family from further away. We provided the meal so their family didn’t have to worry about it. We get a thank you from the daughter in law or the son.”

The hard work that comes with serving a community can not be done alone, and the Curry family is thankful for the help they receive from their volunteers.

“If we didn’t have all these people here, there’s no way it could happen,” said Bambi. “I mean, 1,500 meals doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you consider you have 48 turkeys, 400 pounds of ham, 400 pounds of sweet potatoes, (it’s a lot).”

Bambi and her crew peeled potatoes Wednesday in preparation for the Thanksgiving meal. They were also in the building at 2:30 a.m. to cook all the food for residents.

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