Operation Thanksgiving reaches ten years

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Dillon White
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Forty-seven Malmstrom Airmen and civilian employees prepared and delivered 370 Thanksgiving meals to elderly and less-fortunate members of the Great Falls community Nov. 24 and 25 during Operation Thanksgiving.

This was the tenth year Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen from Malmstrom and the staff from Meals-on-Wheels joined forces in the kitchen.

The Meals-on-Wheels kitchen is usually home to 10 or more full-time employees and with the added manpower - shoulder to shoulder in some areas -- the cold stainless steel tables, steamy dish-washing area and hot ovens looked more like a factory.

To help recruit and organize the volunteers, points of contact were established on base. Airman 1st Class Anel Mehmedovic, 341st Force Support Squadron personnelist, was one of the POCs.

"We managed to complete the pre-cook in a timely manner and got a great head start on the operation," he said. "Thanksgiving day went as smooth as we hoped for -- the volunteers worked as one -- showing great teamwork and camaraderie as we successfully started the assembly line and prepared 386 meals. Last year we did around 330. Overall Operation Thanksgiving was a great success thanks to all the volunteers."

From bagging muffins while singing The Muffin Man, to peeling potatoes with a privately-owned peeler, each volunteer carried out his or her duties with zeal.

"I expected this to be hard work," said Staff Sgt. Latosha Tibbs, 341st FSS NCO in charge of force management, and one of several Airmen in hair nets working on 'Drury Lane.' "It hasn't been too hard I've just been bagging muffins.

"It's good for people to volunteer their time for a good cause," she continued. "And it feels good helping families out for the holidays."

While volunteers handled most of the hands-on work, Meals-on-Wheels staff members trained and directed their volunteer force, while keeping track of the team's progress.

"We had an extravagant meal this year," said Nancy Wilson, Great Falls Meals-on-Wheels manager. "And it's because we had help from Malmstrom. The seniors look forward to this all year and we start getting calls before Halloween."

While Ms. Wilson wasn't helping the team, she was crunching numbers and ensuring the kitchen was stocked.

Using a calculator in her office, she estimated the weight of the 36 turkeys that were cooked at 576 pounds before deboning and the seven hams, 100 pounds.

Also on deck for each individual meal was cranberry sauce, gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes, stuffing, a dinner roll, an orange, a Thanksgiving themed placemat and for dessert -- a slice of pumpkin pie.

Once the meals were prepared and boxed, dispatchers handed out delivery route sheets to drivers. Drivers then collected boxes of hot Thanksgiving meals at approximately 15-minute intervals and headed out on the road to knock on doors while announcing, "Meals-on-Wheels."

"The most rewarding part to me is that we made a difference," Airman Mehmedovic said. "The idea of something as simple as a bright smile and a warm meal being the highlight of an individual's holiday season blows my mind away.

"It's definitely rewarding and it reminds you that sometimes we take things for granted. I am thankful and blessed that I could help out."

At approximately 2 p.m. Nov. 25, every meal had been delivered and a handful of volunteers tasked with clean-up detail finished scrubbing pots and pans and wiping down the kitchen following another successful year.