GREENFIELD – Greenfield’s Thanksgiving tradition of sharing a feast with those in need returns this year, and now’s the time to sign up for a meal or to help.
The Lisa Muegge Feast of Plenty – named in memory of the woman who started it – will take place on Thanksgiving Day at the Hancock County Fairgrounds and the need for food and volunteers is expected to be as high or higher than ever.
Dubbed the “miracle on Apple Street” when it started in 2005, the tradition brings in hundreds of volunteers in order to fulfill thousands of requests for a hot meal or a bag of groceries.
While the event used to offer in-person seating, foregoing the dine-in option was a necessity in 2020 due to the pandemic. The process became so streamlined that organizers are maintaining only drive-through, carry-out and delivery in order to serve more.
Joel Hungate is Lisa Muegge’s son and is on the steering team for the tradition, volunteering with his wife and three children every year.
Hungate anticipates around 4,500 meals will be served this year. Those who want to request a meal and groceries should visit feastofplentyoutreach.com. Anyone can request a meal; no questions asked. While meal requests are preferred, walk-up orders for meals are also honored the day of the event.
Meals can be delivered or picked up at the fairgrounds between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.
For the first time, a new satellite location will open at the Elks Club in Rushville to help meet increasing demand across the region.
“We’ve also opened up more volunteer slots across both locations, and we will need more volunteers than ever,” he said.
Volunteers include a Wednesday crew to prep the dinner and Thursday slots for meal assembly, meal delivery, grocery bagging, kitchen, serving line and clean-up.
People can also donate monetarily to the event, or sponsor a turkey for $50.
They need roughly 800 bags of donated groceries to donate along with the hot meals. A list of what each bag should contain is available online; grocery bags donations are due Nov. 22.
Sign-ups for volunteers, donations and groceries are all available at feastofplentyoutreach.com. While there is no deadline to sign up to donate, volunteer slots tend to fill up quickly.
