Thousands of holiday meals made, delivered for Operation Turkey

AUSTIN, Texas - Volunteers packed into the Juliet Italian Kitchen at the Arboretum Thursday morning to help with Operation Turkey.

In the crowd of Turkey Day helpers was Maria Carlile and her son Waylon.

"I'm trying to teach my little guy that anything could happen, and this could be us someday needing help. So, since we're in a position to help people, then we should," said Carlile. 

Meal prep was the first order of business, including whole turkeys shredded by hand. Not having a knife didn't seem to be a problem for Katya Veazey.

"You kind of just got to grab it like this, and then you just kind of just gnaw and break until you get some random meat pieces," said Veazey.

Thousands of pounds of green beans and potatoes were also cooked and poured into trays for a mass serving. Jimmy Vela was in one section making round balls of mashed potatoes.

"I just think of it like a snowball, you know, like a make it a snowball. Just do that," said Vela.

The volunteers included staff members with Austin FC, including president Andy Loughnane, who netted a job with a bowl and a whisk.

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"When we became a team a couple of years ago, this was part of our pledge. We wanted to give back to the community that gave us life. So yes, we play games, we score goals, we hopefully win those games. But at any point during the year, we're doing little things like this to make sure that Austin has a better way of life," said Loughnane.

Richard Bagdonas started Operation Turkey a few years ago with one plate. It has grown into a multi-city-multi-state operation.

"To see that people bring their children, their grandparents, their family together to come out and spend time with us is just the most rewarding experience. Did you ever dream it would get this big? No. No. I had the idea that people would just go and hand out a few plates in their hometown. But there's a sense of community that people need, and that's what we bring them," said Bagdonas.

Before the kitchens were turned on, smokers were fired up. 700 turkeys for the Austin operation started cooking Wednesday. 4,500 at all the locations across the country affiliated with Operation Turkey. The large-scale cook-out involved volunteers like Brian Tolbert.

" I love the outcome. Every single year is just great. We get more and more people, people from everywhere. We've got a few people from Hong Kong that are over there right now that are volunteering with us. I mean, one guy just saw me on the news yesterday and I told him, bring the whole family, grandma, kids and everybody. He did exactly what I said," said Tolbert.

The meals were put together on another holiday assembly line. Several of the containers were decorated with holiday messages from children. 12,500 meals were delivered by Operation Turkey volunteers across Austin. It's become a holiday tradition for the Wells family, who made several stops at a south Austin apartment complex.

"It's our daughter's influence. You know, she wanted to give back to the community. So this is our way to support her desire to get back," said Matt Wells.

Thursday's delivery provided a meal and some unexpected holiday cheer for Arthur Castillo.

"Oh, it means. It means the world to me. I mean, I'm. I'm. I'm glad that I got a meal today. I'm glad. And I'm. I'm happy that people are out helping people by giving them a meal and stuff like that. So this makes it very good for me and makes my day. Thank you all very much. God bless you all. And everything today is going great," said Castillo.

Organizers were already thinking about next year, lining up even more cities where more meals will be served up.