PB schools community meal will be back next year

For some, one Thanksgiving tradition won’t be happening this year.

The Poplar Bluff R-I Chartwells staff won’t put on a community Thanksgiving meal like it has in the past.

“We were just concerned about the safety of our staff and the people who come,” Dixie Harden, Chartwells director, said.

Last year’s community Thanksgiving fed about 1,500 people.

Harden said there was briefly a discussion of offering pick-up meals, but she was concerned it would overwhelm the students involved.

“I thought it would be a little much with 800 cars,” she said, which is about what Chartwells would give food to during the food pickup program earlier this year.

The community Thanksgiving also featured music by Poplar Bluff High School students. JROTC students also work the event.

Harden said the staff does plan to host the community Thanksgiving again next year, when the coronavirus hopefully has calmed down.

The PBHS Student Council normally collects donations during the community Thanksgiving meal for its service project. The donations go toward Christmas presents for children at Haven House.

The council collects donations at other times during the year, including the recent Powder Puff football game, which raised about $600, said Jennie Randolph, student council advisor.

Randolph said Student Council members still are collecting donations for Haven House.

To try to make up for that loss, Randolph said, classes are taking part in a Stuff the Stocking project. In this, they are collecting stocking-style toys.

Randolph said community members can bring small toys to the high school’s front office starting Monday.