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With teary eyes, Eagles continue Thanksgiving tradition |
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Written by Publisher
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Wednesday, 25 November 2009 |
Photo by Ted Lutz
The Kane Eagles Club is preparing for its annual free Thanksgiving dinner for the Kane community. The event is now known as the Linda Haight Thanksgiving Dinner to honor the memory of the woman who began the Eagles’ annual Thanksgiving meals 15 years ago. Among those taking part in dinner preparations are, left to right, front row: Melissa Thompson, daughter of Linda Haight; and Barb Gadley-Cheeks, club secretary; back row: Corky Haight, who helped his wife, Linda with the dinners; Helen Lathrop, a member of the Eagles auxiliary; and Randy Haight, son of Linda Haight, who died in September.
Teary-eyed volunteers will continue the traditional free Thanksgiving dinner at the Kane Eagles Club.
The dinner, which includes full Thanksgiving meals at the club at 238 Chase St. and deliveries to shut-ins in the Kane community, began 15 years ago as an idea conceived by Corky Haight and his wife, Linda.
“Three or four older guys were at the club and told us they had no place to go for Thanksgiving,” Corky said in recalling the year the tradition began. “We decided to do something for them. My wife cooked a turkey and all the fixings and we served a Thanksgiving dinner at the club. One guy was sick so I delivered his dinner to him at his home.”
Linda Haight, who organized the Eagles’ Thanksgiving dinners ever since, died in September.
The Eagles Club will be continuing the tradition and will honor her memory by calling the event the “Linda Haight Thanksgiving Dinner.”
“We just want to keep it going,” Barb Gadley-Cheeks, club secretary, said. “It’s very rewarding. You always have a good feeling at the end of the day. You know the people appreciate it.”
Members of the Eagles Club and its auxiliary provide much of the manpower for the event. But the club also receives help from volunteers who aren’t members.
“We get help from everybody,” Gadley-Cheeks said. “We also receive a lot of donations.”
While many have helped with the Eagles’ Thanksgiving dinners, Linda Haight has spearheaded the annual events.
“They’ve been her baby,” Gadley-Cheeks said.
Julie Anderson, the bar manager at the club, said the Eagles expect to serve 50 dinners in the clubrooms beginning about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Walk-ins are welcome.
She said volunteers will deliver another 70 dinners to shut-ins-- many elderly residents at the Central Towers.
The volunteers will be cooking 19 turkeys, which will be served with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, vegetables and pumpkin pie.
The mashed potatoes will be “real” -- not instant from a box. Linda Haight also is responsible for this tradition.
“Someone suggested going with instant potatoes,” Corky said. “That didn’t go over well with Linda.” He said his wife wanted “real potatoes and volunteered to peel them herself.”
A Vietnam War veteran, Corky said his wife was “very proud” of leading the club’s efforts to provide free Thanksgiving dinners to the less fortunate and shut-ins in the Kane community. He said “she’d be pleased” that the tradition is continuing.
As he helps deliver meals again Thursday, Corky realizes that he will have “a tear in my eyes” as he recalls his wife’s favorite event.
But he admits that he’s been overcome with emotion “more than once” during the Thanksgiving dinners at the Eagles Club.
“I’ve had people break down and cry when we deliver a Thanksgiving dinner to them,” Haight said. “I’ve had to fight back the tears myself.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 December 2009 )
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