Thanksgiving came early at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. It came differently, too, with tests for diabetes and free clothing and flu shots and buffets staffed by public high school football players.
About 5,000 D.C. residents in need gathered Wednesday, about 10 to a round table, for a free Thanksgiving meal — the “Safeway Feast of Sharing,” put on by the grocery chain since 2000.
Many of them bused in from senior centers, or wellness centers, or simply heard about the dinner through shelters they were staying at. Most wouldn’t have Thanksgiving meals if not for the feast.
Inside a packed elevator, it was impossible not to detect the smell of alcohol. But it was Thanksgiving, and the men made a show of letting the women board the elevators first, and the women smiled.
“It’s so festive and warm, and I’ve met so many people. Such a joy,” said Lucy Tanner, a thin woman of 71 wearing denim from head to toe.
Two years ago, she won an umbrella at the feast, and was quite excited about the possibility of winning something else. Before the meal, she danced the Electric Slide downstairs, where there had also been a job fair.
Armaine Tyndle, 29, put his name in the jobs registry, hoping for work in food services or the electrical field.
“I’ll take anything I can get really,” Tyndle said through tinted sunglasses. He and a friend had come by from a shelter on New York Avenue, and was hoping to spend Thanksgiving Day with his family. In the meantime, he was hoping for turkey and gravy.
And the paper plates were piled: turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and stuffing, with pumpkin and apple pie on the way.
“This is a real Thanksgiving dinner,” said a smiling Velma Chandler, 75, who named the stuffing and mashed potatoes as the plate’s winners.
Mayor Vincent Gray wore a yellow tie and addressed the crowd with all the verve of a pep rally. “We’ve got it all!” he yelled, referring to the free flu shots and HIV tests on the first floor of the convention center. “Downstairs! Downstairs!”
Outside room 103-B, a young black woman with long black and a black leather jacket danced with her friends, singing, “I don’t have HIV, I am HIV-free, I don’t have HIV.”
It was an early, different, and wholly thankful Thanksgiving.
