Buckets of Love... and Thanksgiving

21 Years of Free Thanksgiving Dinners at Central Community. Each year we go through hundreds of turkeys, thousands of potatoes, hundreds of pies and more love than could be measured on the Richter scale as we serve thousands of turkey dinners- with all the trimmings -to all those in need in our community. It's an incredibly expensive endeavor and we could never do it without the loving and generous support of the people of Central Community. They're amazing. Along with their friends and family's, they peel a ton of potatoes, cook a couple hundred turkeys and work non-stop for as long as a week making sure everything is just perfect. Whether it's taking a reservation or delivering a dinner to someone who would otherwise be home and alone... it somehow all gets done... it's amazing... our very own opportunity to share in the miracle of giving thanks. God is too Good.

Love Buckets! That's a picture of one. Our staff put them together to hand out at this weekend's services. People will take them home- set them on their kitchen table, a dresser, atop the TV, and each day they'll dump their change in the slot. Sunday, November 23, we'll collect them- bust 'em open -have a crew of people count the change and use it to pay for everything that's not donated for the dinner. This year we plan on feeding at least 2,500 people. We'll need $5,000- to make sure the job gets done. It'll happen- one little love bucket at a time.

Jesus fed thousands by multiplying just a few fish and a little bread in a kid's lunch bucket. We want to do the same. In fact Jesus promised that we'd do even "greater works than these..." Kind of hard to imagine. But we're entering another November, another season of Thanksgiving, in faith believing. Our first Thanksgiving dinner together at Central Community- Thanksgiving Day, 21 years ago -we prepared to feed 200: cooked the food, set the tables... and no one came.

We shared Thanksgiving dinner together- then tried to find something to do with all that food! A home for battered women... filled with nearly 200 taking shelter at the holidays... welcomed it in joy... they'd prepared nothing. Jesus used our first Thanksgiving Day Dinner to remind us that someones always waiting to be loved... if we're just willing to not only open our eyes to the heartbreak around us but to open our lives and share in Thanksgiving. In 2008, we plan on doing it by the bucket full!

What are you doing with your "buckets of love" this Thanksgiving? God's been so very good to us... a struggling economy can't take His Grace, Mercy, Healing... his invitation to share in Thanksgiving, away.

You're invited to Thanksgiving with us. If you're not able to make it out- we even deliver -we don't want you to be alone or hungry on Thanksgiving. And if you're like me- and God's blessed you by the bucket full -you're invited to fill up a love bucket to help share the Thanksgiving expense. Or maybe you know someone who can donate pies, turkeys, fruit... don't let this miracle season slip away without taking note, without getting involved. God created us to be a blessing. It's what our hearts yearn for in the darkness. We can fill this Thanksgiving with buckets of love.

many blessings,

Eric

How to Cook the Perfect Turkey

Wash your hands and get to it!
Rinse the fresh or completely thawed turkey thouroughly- run some water through both ends. Make sure you've removed the neck- up front - and the giblets and heart, in a little white bag, out the back. Do with them as you please: the neck's ok for soup stock- put a some water on the stove in a large pan, throw the neck in and let it boil...add more water throughout the day, salt and pepper, season creatively, toss in all the cool veggies you can think of. The giblets you can sautee for dressing, toss into broth on the stove, feed them to the neighborhood cat, throw them away.

Get your roasting pan ready- I reccomend the good foil ones you can get for a buck or two at any local market. Put a quarter cup of water in the bottom of the pan and a bit of vegetable oil. Put the turkey in the pan- good old traditional breast up, or go if you cooked a number of turkeys, or are just feeling a bit risque, put the thing in breast down- the thought is with the breast down, they never need basting and remain moist. Pour more vegetable oil over turkey and rub it all over the bird, inside and out, getting your hands completely messy.

This is a great time to turn your oven on to 375 degrees for preheat. Drip oil across the kitchen floor while also leaving an amazing smudge on oven... eveyone will know YOU cooked the turkey. Let the oven heat up.

Now comes the real fun. How do you want your turkey to taste? I'm famous for my jalapeno turkey- it's quick, easy and mouth watering! But you can use anything, or nothing in your turkey. Cook the dressing in a pan- everything goes faster that way.

Traditional Turkey: salt and pepper the oiled bird, make an aluminum tent that folds long ways with the pan, creases longways down the length of the turkey and stands an inch or so above the bird- crimp it with your fingers on to the side of the pan and you're ready to put the bird in the oven.

WARNING: those aluminum pans that are so handy have a tendency to rip on the bottom sliding in and out of an oven rack, making a HUGE mess as the bird cooks- just belive me. Either place it carefully onto the rack or BETTER put it on a cookie sheet and slide the whole thing into the oven. Check it occasionally after a couple of hours. You can go to Butterball's site where they have a cool little calculator that tells you exactly how long to cook your bird... or just read the wrapping the bird came in. It's done when the legs wiggle freely. If you tied the legs up behind it's breast- it probably says something about you as a person.

Me, I fill and cover the bird with peppers- sliced wide open jalapenos and every other kind of pepper I can find at the store. Stick an orange or two in there - block the openings with fresh apples - put green onions or anything else you like around the bird. Claim that thing!

The last hour- spoon juice over the top- or buy one of those fancy basters and squirt the thing... enjoy yourself. I've cooked dozens and dozens of turkeys... now days I stick it in the oven before I go to bed and pull it out when I wake up. Piece of cake- perfection. You can pull the foil off the bird for the last 30 minutes to give it a cool brown look.

Have Fun!

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Central Community's, Free, Community Wide Thanksgiving Dinner- if you'll be alone or without on Thanksgiving... don't be... please join us for a day of great food, fun and one more wonderful reason to give thanks. You're invited. And I'm cooking at least one of the turkeys!