Equinox In Albany Preparing For Thanksgiving Day Community Dinners

As most of us will be getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with our families, volunteers are preparing to cook, deliver and serve for the Equinox Thanksgiving Day Community Dinners for over 8,000  homebound, lonely or homeless Albany area people.

The has been a tradition since 1969.  In the Capital Region, this is the longest running holiday tradition. About 500 of the meals are delivered and served at the First Presbyterian Church, on the corner of State Street and Willet Streets, on downtown Albany, while the other meals are delivered to people that live in a 40 mile radius of Albany. Everything is done by more than 3,000 volunteers, from beginning to end.

Preparations start on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, at the Empire State Plaza, where volunteers will continue working until it's time for delivery on Thanksgiving Day.There are many people that make the Equinox Thanksgiving event part of their tradition, by volunteering every year. I volunteered one year, and it was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. I also met some very nice and generous people.

If there are  surplus donations they will be used to assist needy families throughout the year.

If you can spare some time and would like to help out, you can call 434-0131. That's the Equinox Thanksgiving hotline. If you donate food or money, those donations are tax deductible. What a great way to help our neighbors.