‘GIVING BACK’

Norris’s Vega Café hands out 300 free Thanksgiving dinners

December 1, 2021 by G. Chambers Williams III

At least 300 people in the Norris area were assured of a home-style Thanksgiving dinner without charge as the Vega Café & Smokehaus in downtown Norris passed out the free dinners last Wednesday.

Loy Johnson was the first in line to get one of the meals-to-go of fresh sliced turkey breast meat, herb dressing, gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, fresh-baked roll, and glazed carrots, handed out at the front door of the restaurant beginning at noon.

There were at least 30 people already waiting in the line when restaurant owner and chef John Fletcher and others in the café – staff members and volunteers – began passing out the meals in single-serving aluminum containers, ready to be heated up and eaten.

This year’s Thanksgiving dinner handout was the second for Fletcher, who began the gesture last year during the pandemic with just 200 meals prepared.

“We were very new in business last year when the pandemic hit, and when we had to shut down in March for the pandemic, I thought that probably was going to be the end for us,” Fletcher said last week as he prepared to begin this year’s meal giveaway.

“But we decided to offer takeout food while our dining room was closed, and that saved us,” he said. “The community really responded well and helped save us until we could start opening for dine-in service again.”

That’s why he decided to give out the 200 Thanksgiving dinners last year, as a way to give back to the community for its support, he said.

“Those 200 dinners were gone in the first 45 minutes, so we decided to do it again this year, but give away 300 dinners this time,” Fletcher said. “This is for anyone, including people on fixed budgets, or home alone, or first-responders – anyone who needed a meal.

“We decided to close the restaurant for the week just to do this.”

The meals were slower to go out the door this year than last, though, maybe because this year more people were returning to normal, inviting family in and cooking again for Thanksgiving, and there were still a few dinners left to give away by mid-afternoon.

Those who ate the food raved about how good it was. Karen and Ricky Burdette and their daughter Sarah were not able to cook at home for this year’s holiday, so opted to take the meals from Vega.

“It was gourmet food, obviously prepared by people who know how to cook,” Karen Burdette said. “We were surprised and impressed by the quality of the meal.”

While no one was charged for the meals, Vega did accept donations toward its expenses for the food on its Facebook page and in a bucket just inside the restaurant’s front door.

While most people were coming in groups of two or three, at least one family collected eight of the dinners. “We have a car full,” said the man who came to the café’s door.