Well before people arrived at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on Thanksgiving morning, preparations for Cortez’s annual meal were well underway.
When the noon service began Thursday, volunteers had formed an assembly line. They packed turkey, potatoes and cranberry sauce and tucked individually boxed, labeled slices of pie inside. In the kitchen, cooks spooned servings from steaming pots while dish runners and delivery drivers kept stations moving.
The organized operation is a partnership between Grace’s Kitchen at St. Barnabas, Mona Makes and a wider community network that donates money and time to make the holiday meal happen – expected to serve up to 900 people.
This year’s effort comes amid growing demand. By 1 p.m., volunteers had served more than 300 meals.
For Victoria Atkins, who manages the meal, the day started at 7 a.m. with giant pots of boiling water for mashed potatoes.
“Oh gosh, prep starts months from before now. We started collecting turkeys in mid-October and stash them in our freezers,” she said.
She added part of it is figuring out how much food: “We also started estimating how many meals we thought we might need today. We know our numbers at Grace’s Kitchen overall have increased. Back in July, they started going up toward 150, 170 just for lunch.”
This year’s team roasted more than 60 turkeys, yielding more than 300 pounds of deboned meat, all thawed and cooked in stages starting late October through the Sunday before Thanksgiving. As the main man carving the turkey put it: “Everybody has to have a hobby!”
“It’s really about community and although it’s hosted here at St. Barnabas, you’re looking at 75 volunteers or more that make this happen,” Atkins said.
She said the cooking efforts are a remarkable feat by the extended Snyder family and their business, Mona Makes in Cortez, which serves as head cook and handles meal prep.
“It’s truly not just to serve the community, it’s the community that comes together to make it happen,” said Chris Snyder, who has led in the kitchen alongside his sister since 2017.
The work includes side dishes such as green beans with onion and bacon and stuffing with sausage, apples, onions, celery and cranberries, and homemade cranberry sauce. Mona Makes also purchases supplemental ingredients to help “doll it up a little bit,” he said.
This year’s menu also included more than 100 donated pies: apple, cherry, pumpkin, pecan, peach, mixed berry and others.
“Some are homemade and quite delectable,” Atkins said. “But every pie is appreciated.”
Inside the church, boxes and boxes were lined up in neat, methodical stacks, while volunteers seemed to move all around: line cooks boxed food trays, others bagged items, drivers left with big boxes in their arms.
Jim Mischke, a Vietnam veteran and retired Shiprock professor, has been a longtime supporter of Grace’s Kitchen.
“We've been doing this for a long, long time. It's important to us. I'm concerned about what's going on in terms of people being hungry, other Americans being hungry,” Mischke said.
Mischke and his wife have donated turkeys, pies and plenty of effort trucking loads of City Market donations for years. For him, the work is a blend of faith and responsibility.
“Think globally and act locally,” he said.
Atkins said Grace’s Kitchen, St. Barnabas’ hot lunch program, began seeing demand spike in July, prior to SNAP benefits being paused and then restored.
Lunch counts rose 60% to 80%, she said. This fall, the highest day tallied 187 meals. With that trend in mind, volunteers planned for more this year. Grace’s Kitchen serves food every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and Hope’s Kitchen, through Cortez First United Methodist Church, serves meals Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“That’s a daunting increase, but we're up for the challenge,” Atkins said.
The meal service includes delivery to first responders – both the Cortez Police Department and Montezuma County Sheriff's Office – and to the 100 people who call ahead, some homebound or lacking transportation, including residents from Dove Creek, Dolores, Mancos and Towaoc.
“We started this whole operation, gosh, 25 plus years ago, because some members of St. Barnabas learned that Meals on Wheels didn’t deliver on Thanksgiving. So they said, ‘Well, let’s deliver something,’” Atkins said.
For some residents, the pickup meal has become a tradition. One guest grabbing a to-go box said they come every year.
Two longtime pillars of the program died in recent months:
“Mike Hart did the mash potatoes with the kitchen. But Mike passed away in August,” she said. “Sally Tompkins was a founder of Grace's Kitchen back in the late 90s, and she passed away in June. So, we're thinking of them today.”
Although Mona and Chris Snyder spearhead Thanksgiving Day cooking, Chris Snyder commended year-round volunteers.
“We stand in awe of those who work here to feed those daily that are in need of it, both here at Grace’s and at Hope’s Kitchen across town,” he said. “Food is our love language. It’s the way we communicate and express that you’re of value.”
