Chinook Thanksgiving Dinner to be Take-Out and Delivery Only

CHINOOK, Mont. (NMB) – The Chinook Community Thanksgiving Dinner will go on this year, albeit with some significant changes due to COVID-19 concerns.

Betty Billmayer, one of the organizers of the Dinner, says they have been in consultation with the Blaine County Health Department on how to continue this annual tradition safely.

“We didn’t know if we’d even be able to have it. But we’ve been in contact with the County Health Department. (Health Officer) Jana (McPherson-Hauer) has just been a great help. She said we’re fine to do it as long as we do take-out or delivery. We won’t have anyone eating in the building. And we’re actually going to prepare it at the Fairgrounds (instead of the Chinook Senior Center) because it’s a much bigger kitchen, and the commercial building, we’ll have delivery out of one end of the building and pick-up out of the other end of the building. So, we’re in the process of preparing and serving, we’ll be able to distance as necessary, too.”

Another change this year is the meal itself.

“We’ve always done the traditional turkey dinner and asked for pie donations from the community. But that’s not really an option this year, either. And we wanted to keep the crew to a minimum, just so we could follow the COVID guidelines easier. So we changed it to a ham dinner, which is just a lot easier to prepare. So it will be a full ham dinner. It should be a nice meal and we are just glad we’re able to do it. It seems if you just skip a year, it’s hard to get back into the mode of doing it the next year. We just really didn’t want to let it go.”

They are planning on preparing 200 meals in total, which is likely to cost around $1,000. The event is fully funded by donations, and is put on by a team of around 20 volunteers. Those interested in picking up a meal don’t have to live in Chinook.

“I’m not going to say that there are any set boundaries for someone that wants to come to pick up a meal. We just want to feed and bless as many people as we can.”

Those interested in receiving a dinner can call the Chinook Senior Center at 357-2648 between 8 AM and 3 PM by November 20th.

Meals will be available for pickup on Thanksgiving at the Blaine County Fairgrounds Commercial Building from 12-1:30 PM.

Deliveries will begin to be distributed on Thanksgiving at 11:30 AM.