Those looking for community and dinner will be able to find it Tuesday at Poplar Bluff R-I High School.
The annual Community Thanksgiving, organized by the Poplar Bluff student council, is open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Chartwells, the company that provides dining services to R-I schools, will provide and prepare the food.
“This is just an opportunity for people in our community to come together,” advisor Mitch Davis said. “It’s not a night where we focus on our differences, but we focus on what unites us. That’s being part of a community that comes together and supports each other.”
Student council has spearheaded the event for several years now. They work with different R-I schools to provide a variety of elements for the night.
Students at the elementary schools will design and color place mats for the event. The high school and junior high bands will play throughout the evening. JROTC students will help with parking. There will also be stations where younger kids can color after they finish the meal.
The goal of the event is to bring people together and help get them into the schools.
“It’s about bringing people together, whether they do have family or a place to eat for Thanksgiving,” Student Council President Eva Bedell said. “It’s just to bring all sorts of people together, no matter their background or what’s going on.”
When it comes down to planning the event, Davis said “you just kind of do it.” The students, he said, are dedicated to doing service projects for the community.
“I’m very fortunate as an advisor to work with a talented group of leaders who not only are they excellent student council leaders, but they’re honor students, they’re athletes, they’re involved in other extracurriculars, they’re involved in their church youth groups and they do an excellent job at managing their time. We know just how important it is to the community and it’s important to us to bring people together.”
The Community Thanksgiving will be from 5-7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. The bands will start playing at 5 p.m.
The council is also working on other projects for the holidays. The funds raised from the homecoming Powder Puff game will go to gifts for children at Haven House. They’re also planning events for the students with a spirit week leading up to the winter break, including stop the bop when they play Christmas music over the speakers between classes and people pay money to change the song, a fundraiser for Special Olympics and polar plunge, where students jump into a cold lake, a fundraiser for the special Olympics. They’re also getting ready for basketball homecoming, which will be in late January.
“Service is something that’s very important to us,” Davis said. “It’s not really a matter of if we’re going to do it. It’s a matter of when we’re going to do it and how big we’re going to be with it compared to previous years.”