BALTIMORE — Turkey, ham and all the fixings.
Last year, the Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving Dinner temporarily moved to the Middle Branch Fitness Center in Cherry Hill and fed 1,500 people, but the nonprofit’s transportation budget doubled to bus people there and renting a kitchen added $10,000 in additional costs.
Still, Gaddy’s daughter, Cynthia Brooks, was thankful.
“I thank Mayor Scott,” said Brooks, “It was a challenge and he did everything within his limits and we had so much support from the Department of Recreation and everything last year. It’s just that it wasn’t so… it wasn’t good. It was a challenge, but we met the moment.”
With maintenance work ongoing at the Patterson Park Rec Center, Brooks had planned to shift back to the city for a scaled-down dinner at the American Legion on McElderry Street that would only feed 600, along with providing 2,000 additional meals to senior centers and churches across Baltimore.
Now, the nonprofit has received notice the work will be completed in time for the dinner to also return to Patterson Park.
It’s estimated by expanding to this location, they’ll now be able to feed four thousand more people last month, but that comes with its own challenges.
“We need everything,” said Brooks, “Our wish list is on our website and we need your support. We need you volunteering. We need you to come out and help us pull this together in 30 days, because we weren’t expecting to be so big.”
It’s a mixed blessing and yet another challenge for the woman who picked up where her mother left off feeding the hungry decades ago, which would make Bea Baddy proud.
“She’s guiding me and pushing me and encouraging me,” said Brooks, “I really feel it. She and my sisters are encouraging me."
