A free Thanksgiving meal may await you this holiday season.
If you are lonely, having trouble providing for your family or would otherwise go without a Thanksgiving meal this year, there may be a seat at a free, community meal left for you.
Set for November 24, 2022 at Tacos4Life located at 1760 North Highway 77 in Waxahachie, Texas 75165, two community Thanksgiving meals will treat 100 guests each to a free dinner. The first meal will be served at 5:30 p.m. with a second meal beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Seating is limited, and the meal is intended for “those who don’t have family close enough to celebrate with or for those who otherwise might not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving” according to the online dinner invitation where guests may sign up to attend.
Alternatively, guests may register for the meal by texting their name and number of attendees to 972-342-9873. Sign-ups will fill up open seats at the first meal, and once it’s full, seating at the second meal will be made available for registration.
“We have partnered with Tacos4Life and First Baptist of Red Oak to offer a free traditional Thanksgiving meal to anyone who doesn’t have someone close to enjoy it with, to anyone who otherwise may not be able to have a Thanksgiving meal for whatever reason, or even for someone who just wants to enjoy some time with others to celebrate Thanksgiving,” says Jim Stanford, a Red Oak resident and founder of Stand United 4 Christ, a non-profit organization also sponsoring the dinner.
“The idea stemmed from our appreciation of what God has provided and we wanted to offer everyone a chance to enjoy the day of Thanksgiving,” Jim adds. “We wanted to make Thanksgiving day special for everyone.”
Jim, who’s also the franchisee of the Waxahachie location of Tacos4Life, says the idea for the dinner was born out of discussions he had with friends at First Baptist Church of Red Oak. “I’m highly involved with all three [organizations] and I’ve got some friends that are as well. And we just kind of came together with a heart for our community.”
“We are blessed with so much and get to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families. And we were just thinking there’s so many people that that don’t have that, or they don’t have that opportunity, or their family’s not close, and so we just kind of decided that we’d like to do something about it,” he says.
Meals will be prepared and served to guests by volunteers. Tacos4Life will offer its famous Mexican creamed corn and open up its beverage section, too. Forgoing a buffet style, Jim says guests will be served at their table and treated to an evening of food and fellowship.
The event is in keeping also with one of the missions of Tacos4Life, which as a company donates one meal for hungry children for every meal purchased. To date, the Waxahachie location has raised funds for more than 1,100,000 donated meals — that’s over one million.
This is the first year that Jim and company have organized a free, Thanksgiving meal, and already, those who’ve signed up for the meal and have left messages on the registration web page have expressed their gratitude and reasons for which they would like to join in the celebration.
“Widower,” reads one message. “Both my parents passed and family don’t get along,” expresses another. “We are R.V. volunteers who are presently volunteering in Waxahachie and have no family nearby,” reads yet another.
Jim says the mission of Stand United 4 Christ is to tend to those whom Jesus refers to as “the least of these, my brothers.”
“This is really just an opportunity to take care of those that are maybe in that situation,” he says. “I know some people either just don’t have the means or … they don’t have family close; or, they just would like to spend Thanksgiving with somebody, and so that’s an opportunity that we want to afford so that everybody can have an amazing Thanksgiving.”
To register, visit the online sign-up page.