Tognazzini among scores who give back for Thanksgiving,
Christimas
As Kirk Tognazzini describes himself, he’s a
”
social butterfly,
”
and there’s no better place for the lifelong Hollister resident
to feel at home than the Marley Holte Holiday Dinners.
Tognazzini this Thanksgiving continued the tradition he and many
others partake in each year
– setting aside their holidays to give back to others.
Tognazzini among scores who give back for Thanksgiving, Christimas
As Kirk Tognazzini describes himself, he’s a “social butterfly,” and there’s no better place for the lifelong Hollister resident to feel at home than the Marley Holte Holiday Dinners.
Tognazzini this Thanksgiving continued the tradition he and many others partake in each year – setting aside their holidays to give back to others.
Tognazzini is among the eight or nine board members running the annual Holte dinners at Sacred Heart’s gym – the namesake and founder of which passed away in 2006 – and represents the spirit of the get-togethers.
He’s dedicated as they come (Tognazzini arrives at 5:30 a.m. Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings and stays until the end). He’s always friendly (He shakes more hands and pats more shoulders than a politician). He looks forward to seeing all the other volunteers each year (“It’s like a family reunion,” he says of the Holte dinners, as the Thanksgiving Day preparations get started and he waits for his next duty). And he keeps it light (“Hey, watch it!” he continually banters to others nearby in the crowded kitchen).
Tognazzini, like the scores of volunteers who show up ready to get to work, enjoys being around others. During the holidays, his focus almost involuntarily turns to volunteerism and helping to organize and pull off the free meals for local residents.
“I enjoy talking to people, finding out what’s going on in everybody’s life – don’t you?” says Tognazzini, wearing a black Holte Dinners polo, the event’s classic red smock, and a San Francisco Giants hat he rarely leaves home without these days, especially after watching the team win the World Series this year as a 40-year fan.
He has volunteered for other community organizations as well, such as the Community Food Bank for which he mostly bagged food, or the group putting on the downtown biker rallies for which he distributed programs.
In that sense – his affinity to enjoy others’ company – he was a natural for a leadership role with the Holte organization. He joined the group’s higher ranks before last year’s two dinners, but had volunteered on Thanksgiving and Christmas for around 10 years, he says.
Each of the main players who run the 11 a.m. meals have a primary job to do. For Tognazzini, it’s making sure the coffee situation remains in order – both for the helpers who stream into the kitchen and gymnasium throughout the 10-or-so-hour operation and the guests who come for the dinners.
Don’t underestimate the responsibility, considering it means keeping the large coffee pots full and fresh for those among the 100 volunteers who might need a break from furiously chopping onions or peeling potatoes, and another 400 or so guests who might want to enjoy a cup or two with dinner.
“Kirk’s in charge of keeping the coffee going,” says Larry Brown, who has headed up the dinners since Holte’s passing, while watching over the organized chaos in the Sacred Heart kitchen. “That’s a good job, not just for everybody, but it’s a good job for Kirk.
“There’s never any coffee we run out of – for helpers and also outside, it never runs out.”
Tognazzini on this Thanksgiving, as always, keeps a close eye on his main objective at hand – the Joe – but also fills in where he can on other duties such as cleaning the long, narrow, metal tables in the kitchen or retrieving a pair of knives for a teenage girl volunteering in the early-morning holiday hours.
“Wax on, wax off,” another man quips to Tognazzini after the volunteer crews, lining along each side of the table, cleared a seemingly endless supply of chopped onions.
Replies Tognazzini, “It’s like being in the Army.”
The legacy lives on
As a whole, the Holte Holiday Dinners organization cooked 32 turkeys, expecting to feed a total of about 500 people this year, up slightly from 2009, according to Brown. He has been impressed once again with the number of people showing up for the season’s volunteer work.
“This is Hollister – that’s all I’ve got to say,” says Brown, looking at the kitchen-full of volunteers on Thanksgiving. “You ask for help and people are lined up. We’ve lived here for 32 years, and that’s what impresses us about Hollister.”
The Holte Holiday Dinners began in 1985, when educator, businessman and politician Marley Holte – and his wife – decided to pool their holiday money and feed the needy rather than buy gifts for each other. The Marley Holte Community Assistance Program began providing meals during Christmas time and later expanded to offer the Thanksgiving dinners, too.
For more information on the Holte Holiday Dinners, and in particular to volunteer for the Christmas meal event, call Brown at 637-9037.
