Turkey preparations

An injured back prevented Larry Perrier from working but he says he found a sense of accomplishment while volunteering at the Dew Drop Inn.

The 46-year-old landscaper has volunteered with the Dew Drop Inn for more than 15 years. With an injured back preventing him from working, Perrier said he wanted to do something with his time. When his son told him to volunteer with the inn, he decided to join.

"I really enjoy it and it’s really fun," Perrier said. "It was my son David who was volunteering at the inn. I couldn’t do anymore work and I wanted to do something. My son asked me to help him down here so I did. I feel like I’m accomplishing something."

Perrier, now the volunteer supervisor, helped with the annual Thanksgiving dinner preparations. The inn provides a necessary service in the community and appreciated by the patrons who attend, he said.

"I feel good when people come up and say thank you," he said. "There are a lot of good people that come and eat here. This service is really needed and I find there is a lot of new people that are coming in here because a lot of jobs are lost."

Perrier said he could relate to those who have lost their jobs and remembered his first time at the inn where he felt shy and thought he didn’t belonged but glad to have something to eat.

Volunteers started to cook the six 30-pound turkeys, four hams, 60 pounds of potatoes, two cases of boxed studding and the case of mixed vegetables on Saturday. From there the turkeys and hams are sliced and the potatoes peeled on Sunday.

To help with the cooking, the Dew Drop Inn purchased a new fridge and stove as well as renovated the floor and painted the walls at the facility on Red River Road.

Terri Favreau, director with the Dew Drop Inn, said this year is going very well and the new appliances, especially the stove, will help in cooking the food for the Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. The Dew Drop Inn had more than 320 patrons eat at the Thanksgiving dinner last year. Favreau said she is expecting around 250 people to attended by wouldn’t be surprised to have more than 300 show up.

"We have to make sure we have enough food for everybody," Favreau said. "I figured this year that it there will be about 250 to 300 people who are going to come to the dinner. That’s the number that I’m (expecting) but I always make a lot of food that could serve 350 people."

Favreau said she hoped for a lower turn out this year and believed that the flooding and forest fires in some remote communities caused the high attendance last year.

The Dew Drop Inn dinner starts at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.