• The meal is entirely free, and everyone is welcome.
Star Valley is invited to a Thanksgiving Dinner at Swift Creek High School between noon and 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 28. The meal is entirely free, with no financial qualification needed. The hosts have prepared to feed up to 150 guests.
This is the second year that such a Thanksgiving event has been offered in the upper valley. Last year, organizers Mark and Michelle Van Slyke created the event for SCHS students and their families.
Though it may be the case for some guests, this meal is not necessarily offered to meet financial needs, but rather to create a sense of family and community for folks who need human connection during the holiday.
In Dillon, Montana, where Mark was raised, up to 450 folks gather on Thanksgiving Day for a free community dinner. The tradition began over a decade ago and has grown to even accommodate large groups of travelers who are unable to make it home for the holiday.
“Years ago, Michelle and I volunteered with them,” said Mark, in an interview with SVI Media last week. “It was fantastic!” People with all types of needs and situations come out for the meal in Dillon. Folks gathered around a table and experienced the human connection that they hoped for on a holiday that is so much about connecting with community and loved ones. “One year, a university basketball team was snowed in, and they didn’t have dinner, so they showed up.”
As Mark teaches at SCHS, last year’s meal, organized in part by the students, was offered to SCHS students and their families. They fed around 60 people and leftovers were delivered to emergency personnel and community members who had to work the holiday.
This year, SCHS students have also been involved in the project. On their own time, students have planned the dinner and worked to ensure that all details are in order for the special meal. Students will be part of the staff that will set up, serve and clean up after the meal.
Mark and Michelle have worked in collaboration with the Afton Food Pantry to ensure that there is enough food for the crowd, and volunteers from local churches are helping with food preparation.
The team would love help with setup, serving and cleaning up after the meal. “We could use help setting up from 10-12. That would be great! We will need volunteers to help refill rolls and drinks, which is more of a social assignment, but I want people to feel like they have a community.”
This event is offered in “partnership with Swift Creek High School. I have a community of students here who are looked at in a particular way, and there’s a stereotype that is prevalent there. I love the idea of countering that narrative, because there is so much more that underlies what people tend to see with our kids – the fact that they help organize this and they help serve and they want to do that. They are thinking about the folks in their communities that have needs, so they are not just focused on themselves, but are finding other people that they can serve. I love that!”
Financial donations to the project are welcome, and folks wanting to volunteer their time can contact Mark directly at 435-764-1690.
“If you just don’t want to cook Thanksgiving dinner, come eat with us,” said Mark. “The social element is just as important to us as the financial element. We just want human beings to be with other human beings and take care of one another.”
