Hollister -Nearly 100 people with crisp white aprons slung over
their shoulders peppered the interior of Sacred Heart School’s
gymnasium Thanksgiving afternoon as they chopped green onions or
served piping hot corn to those attending Marley Holte’s 17th
Annual Thanksgiving Dinner.
Hollister -Nearly 100 people with crisp white aprons slung over their shoulders peppered the interior of Sacred Heart School’s gymnasium Thanksgiving afternoon as they chopped green onions or served piping hot corn to those attending Marley Holte’s 17th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner.
Whether it was their first time volunteering or their seventeenth, the sentiment was the same – the group of strangers working together for several hours was a family.
“It’s nice to see so many other people doing the same thing I’m doing,” said volunteer Kerry Martinez. “It’s Thanksgiving, and that’s what we’re going. We’re giving.”
Holte heads the Marley Holte’s Community Assistance Program and provides free dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas. He started the Christmas dinners about 20 years ago when he and his wife decided to pool their money and feed the needy instead of buying gifts for each other, he said.
Several years later they started doing Thanksgiving dinners as well and the rest is history, he said.
“Right now I don’t think we could stop if we wanted to – it’s expected,” Holte said. “I hate to use the word tradition, but around here it has been.”
Volunteers prepared food for between 300 to 350 people, including 30 turkeys, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, dressing, cranberries, rolls and pumpkin pie.
Holte said as Thanksgiving approached people called him up and asked what they could donate – be it food, money, time or energy. As a result, he’s never in short supply of a steaming turkey or a smiling face.
“A lot of families work their dinner around ours. The nicest part is the good vibes coming from the people,” he said. “And I get entirely too much credit for it. I’m just sitting here having a cup of coffee.”
Richard Guzman has been at Holte’s side on Christmas and Thanksgiving since the beginning, he said. The food, fun and people who come out to the dinner are good enough to keep him coming back year after year, he said.
“He’s (Holte) always fed me good so I haven’t missed a day,” he said. “The camaraderie with the people – the help and the people who come in – it’s great. We chew the fat, enjoy the food and sit down and eat with different people.”
Uriel Jara lives near the school and brought his wife and two small children down for the first time to see what all the fuss was about.
Between monitoring how fast his children shoveled food into their mouths and listening to Johnny Gi-tar croon into a microphone on stage, he could only describe his first Holte dinner one way.
“It’s perfect,” he said. “Everything’s good. The music, the food, the service. It’s perfect.”
People from different backgrounds, working as a team and accomplishing something honorable is what will bring Hollister resident Reno Rodriguez and his wife Brandy back year after year.
“People that don’t even know each other, and we’re all focusing on helping out the needy,” he said. “Normally we go to San Jose, but we felt the calling to do this instead.”
Holte’s only criticism is that he wishes more people would take advantage of the dinner. He said the dinner reached its peak numbers in 1998 when over 1,000 people attended, but has decreased since.
Although fewer people can be construed as a positive thing because not as many need the food, the dinner has become a way to truly embrace the meaning of the holiday, he said.
“It’s not only for the people who can’t afford it, it’s for anybody,” Holte said. “It’s a nice place to come to dinner.”
Holte’s Christmas dinner will be held at Sacred Heart School’s gymnasium Christmas day and anyone is welcome to attend or volunteer.
