CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — Dozens of volunteers woke up bright and early this Thanksgiving to prepare a free community feast for hundreds in Clarkesville. They gathered in the kitchen at First Presbyterian Church, carving up the turkeys prepared by Eric Holbrooks — the “Turkey Man of Clarkesville” — whose smokers have been running for days to make sure every guest has a hot meal.
Holbrooks has spent the last seven years tending turkeys from midnight to sunrise in the run-up to Thanksgiving. He doesn’t do it for applause. He does it, he said, because he can’t stand the thought of anyone eating alone on a holiday built around gathering.
“We fed one hundred twenty people the first year,” Holbrooks said. “Last year, we reached three hundred fifty.” Today, he and the other volunteers are preparing to serve as many as six hundred.
More than a meal
The idea for the Clarkesville Community Thanksgiving began when Holbrooks and three friends decided their town needed more than a meal. It needed a place where anyone could walk in without shame and sit across from someone who cared.
Donations came early this year — turkeys, broth, flour, sugar, oil, and gallons of sweet tea — many collected by Sherry Smith at the Clarkesville Dairy Queen. Today, volunteers poured in by 7 a.m. to start carving the 35 turkeys Holbrooks had smoked and to prepare the rest of the Thanksgiving feast.
Each year, the First Presbyterian Church of Clarkesville opens its commercial kitchen and gathering space so people can come as they are — hungry, lonely, joyful, curious. No one pays. No one is questioned. Everyone is welcome.
The Clarkesville Community Thanksgiving runs today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Clarkesville First Presbyterian Church on Jefferson Street. Also happening in Habersham, Cornelia is hosting its 8th Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Cornelia Community House at 601 Wyly Street. There will be free hot meals for anyone in need. All are welcome.
