Volunteers prepare Thanksgiving meals at local tavern

WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - Thanksgiving is still a day away, but at the Cherokee Tavern, volunteers are hard at work preparing all the fixings for a traditional holiday meal.

“I like doing this work because it helps people because they can't have Thanksgiving,” said Nicole Cramsie, a volunteer. 

For the last 37 years, the Tavern has served dinner to families in need on Thanksgiving.  

After it was sold last year, however, its current and previous owners, which operate Casper’s in Eagan, are teaming up to provide more than 4,000 free meals on the big day.

“A lot of times we just pray we have enough food, ‘cause last year we had 700 extra meals that we didn't count on and we had just enough down to the last pan of food,” said Brian Rubenzer, the Cherokee Tavern Owner.

In addition to making 3,000 to-go Thanksgiving dinners, the two restaurants will offer sit down service for about 1,000 people at St. Joseph's Catholic Church down the road.

That means 150 volunteers are cooking 400 turkeys, 112 pans of dressing, as well as cutting 4,000 pieces of pumpkin pie and portioning 4,000 cups of cranberry sauce in three kitchens in the process.

“I own a restaurant,” said Rick Casper, of Casper's Restaurant. “This is what do you do better than anything else. That's what we do, have the ability to serve food, to give hospitality to make someone feel a little better. That’s what sends me to work in the morning." 

For Rubenzer, there’s no better way to focus on the "giving" in Thanksgiving than nourishing a few souls.

“It’s better to give than to receive,” he said. “I think it’s important to help people when you can."